The 2023 FIBA World Cup gave basketball fans something to chew on during an otherwise slow period. For Los Angeles Lakers fans, Team USA became appointment television as Austin Reaves not only made the team but was playing a big role throughout.
Team USA’s run ultimately ended in extreme disappointment. Not only did Team USA not make the finals but the team fell in the third-place game to Canada. There is zero excuse for Team USA to not at least take home a medal.
Meanwhile, Germany built on its third-place finish in the 2022 EuroBasket and managed to become world champions. After beating Team USA in the semi-finals, Germany defeated Spain in the Finals for its first-ever FIBA World Cup Championship.
There was still some rooting interest in that game for Lakers fans as former Laker Dennis Schroder was one of the leaders of Germany. As he did during EuroBasket, Schorder excelled in the international tournament, which could be foreshadowing a decision that LA might already want back.
Dennis Schroder proves in FIBA World Cup that the Lakers will regret letting him walk
Schroder signed a two-year, $25.4 million contract with the Toronto Raptors after the Lakers made it clear that the team was not going to bring him back. Instead, the Lake Show signed point guard Gabe Vincent to a three-year, $33 million deal. Los Angeles likely had the ability to bring Schroder back as long as they offered him essentially what Vincent got.
Raptors fans have to feel great about Schroder after watching him average 19.1 points on 43.5% shooting in the World Cup. This was good enough for Schroder to be named the MVP after his 28-point outburst in the final.
Did Schroder have his flaws as a player? Absolutely. Did it get frustrating watching Darvin Ham implement three-guard lineups with Schroder that simply didn’t work? Yes. But all things considered, Schroder played well as a member of the Lakers and has more to offer than Vincent.
Vincent’s stock is as high as it has ever been because of his red-hot run with the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals. While that is definitely worth something, it should not completely negate the fact that Vincent has played pretty poorly throughout his NBA career. If the Heat would have lost to the Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament then Vincent probably gets less than half of what he ended up getting in free agency.
Vincent is not a reliable three-point shooter (33.4%), facilitates way less than a point guard should (2.5 assists per game last season), and does not have the defense to make up for it. Vincent is fine at defending but his -3.4 Box Plus/Minus indicates that he is a well below-average player.
Not only was that number worse than Schroder, but it was one of the worst in the entire league. There were 160 players who logged at least 1,700 minutes last season. Vincent ranked 156th.