3. Dennis Schroder
Ironically enough, Dennis Schroder is the most talented player as it stands today but that is not the only thing to consider when talking about trade value. In fact, you can easily make the case for Schroder to be ranked no. 2 on this list, but there are some things holding him back.
First is the fact that he is an unrestricted free agent. Schroder is going to have to agree to a sign-and-trade is the Lakers were to trade him, which very well could happen. Schroder is reportedly asking for $100-120 million this offseason and the only way for him to come close to that is to sign a deal with the Lakers using his Bird Rights to be flipped to another team that wouldn’t have the cap space otherwise.
That is part of the problem, though. The Lakers have to find a team that will be willing to take on that Schroder contract that also does not have the means to simply outright sign him.
While Schroder is not a great fit on the Lakers, he does still have value in this league as he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award just a season ago. There definitely are teams that value Schroder and what he can bring to the table, the question is if they value him at $25-30 million a year.
Either way, I doubt he gets that much and instead will likely get a salary around $20 million. That is still a pretty penny to pay.