Los Angeles Lakers: Players who will shock casual NBA fans in the playoffs

By Jason Reed | May 16, 2021

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MAY 15: LeBron James #23 and Dennis Schroder #17 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate after a play in the game against the Indiana Pacers during the first quarter at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on May 15, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

Dennis Schroder, for bad reasons

I was a huge fan of the Dennis Schroder trade last offseason and if I could go back and change anything I wouldn’t. Danny Green was a distressed asset that was not helpful to the team in the playoffs last year and they flipped him and a late first-round pick for an improvement.

However, after watching Schroder for an entire season in the purple and gold it is clear that his box score numbers can be a bit misleading. While he put up really impressive numbers with LeBron James out, that helped tell the story of why Schroder is not as valuable as it seems.

Schroder is a classic case of a player who needs the basketball a lot to be successful. The higher his usage rate the more successful he is going to be. That is obviously not going to be very high when both LeBron and Anthony Davis are healthy and his play often takes a hit as a result.

And quite frankly, if Schroder is getting a usage rate in the 30s on a team then that team probably is not very good.

Look at the Lakers’ last game against the Pacers in which LeBron returned. Schroder scored 14 points with only four assists and one rebound. He shot 33.3% from the field and had the worst plus/minus of any member of the starting five.

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