Dennis Schröder, Germany
The Los Angeles Lakers have been down this road before—twice, no less. Dennis Schröder played for the Lakers in 2020-21, helping the team go 42-30 in the COVID-shortened season, and played a key role for the squad again in 2022-23 when it reached the Western Conference Finals.
It would be understandable for the Lakers to shy away from adding Schröder for a third tenure with the team, but his talent level is undeniable and the need for a point guard could soon exist.
If the Lakers are truly moving on from the D'Angelo Russell experience, then swapping him for Schröder would be an ideal pre-season move. Their expiring salaries are close enough that making a trade align financially would be a manageable task, with Schröder owed $13,025,250 and Russell making $18,692,307.
In that scenario, the Lakers could remove the off-court distraction of trade rumors and give Schröder one last chance to earn a long-term contract in Los Angeles.
The results with Schröder have certainly been encouraging, as a Conference Finals appearance and a trip to the playoffs have been highlights of the post-title era. In fact, the teams with Schröder on them have made the deepest postseason run and secured the best regular season win percentage since winning the championship in 2020.
If parting with Russell is meant to be a case of addition by subtraction, perhaps his return to Brooklyn and Schröder reuniting with Los Angeles one last time is the way to go.