1. Dennis Schroder
Dennis Schroder was offered a four-year, $84 million contract extension by the Los Angeles Lakers last season and turned it down. Schroder bet on himself getting a larger contract in the offseason and it was an incorrect bet as Schroder’s market was nowhere close to where he likely imagined it to be.
Instead, Schroder merely signed a Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception deal that was worth $5.9 million. While Schroder is undoubtedly going to look to get more than that this summer, he did not really do much to increase his value last season.
He was traded by the Boston Celtics as he was not a great fit and he didn’t really do anything of value in Houston. Schroder put up some empty calorie stats on a bad team but they did not really mean much. If Schroder was only worth the Taxpayer MLE last season then he very well could only make the minimum this season.
If so, why not re-join the Los Angeles Lakers where there is unfinished business? It would actually be smart for Schroder’s agent to push him back to LA as they know the Lakers value him enough to offer him a way over-priced extension.
If Schroder impresses the Lakers enough in the 2022-23 season then they could end up re-signing him (not for $84 million) with newfound cap space in the summer of 2023.