Los Angeles Lakers who have played better with LeBron James injured
By Jason Reed
2. Dennis Schroder
Dennis Schroder has been an interesting case study for the Los Angeles Lakers. Overall, his play this season has not been fantastic. He has not been terrible, but he has reverted back closer to his Atlanta self than his Oklahoma City self.
He has been inefficient and has not provided the team with what it needed. However, he did miss four games earlier in the season while LeBron was healthy and the offense looked extremely stagnant without him.
Schroder turned down a four-year, $84 million contract from the Lakers and I definitely would not pay more for Schroder, even if he is playing better while LeBron James is hurt.
The main reason that he is playing better is that his usage rate has gone way up. Not having LeBron is obviously giving Schroder the chance to be more involved and that is when he is at his best.
However, you probably do not have a very good basketball team if Schroder has a usage rate in the mid-30s and that is why the team is under .500 during this span.
On an individual level, he has been solid. He is second on the team in BPM and is shooting at a better clip from beyond the arc. Schroder is shooting 42.6% from beyond the arc in these 13 games.