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Dennis Schroder

Lakers Fast Break- Is It A Glorious Return For Dennis Schröder? with LakerTom!

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We’re back by viewer request as the Lakers pave the way for a return for guard Dennis Schröder as he signs a one-year deal with the team. But what does this mean for a Russell Westbrook trade? Is Dennis actually a good pickup for the team? Why do we have so many smaller guards? What needs to change for his stay to be more successful than the last time around? LakerTom from lakerholics.com is here as he and Gerald share their thoughts on a returning Dennis Schroeder. Does this mean Tom’s bold predictions on a Westbrook deal sooner rather than later will be coming true? Find out in this breaking news episode of the Lakers Fast Break podcast!

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Lakers Fast Break- Will NBA Players Learn From The Dennis Schroder Saga And The Future For Marc Gasol!

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The guys from lakerholics.com are back as LakerTom, “MagicMan” Sean Grice, Gerald Glassford, and Spencer Young from Basketball University talk about the unfortunate path taken by Dennis Schroder in NBA Free Agency. We’ll ponder what went wrong for Dennis in his bid to get a big payout this summer, why turning down the Lakers initial offer was a bad idea, and will other NBA players learn from Schroder’s and others preceding him financial gambles and be hesitant to bet on themselves in free agency more often. Plus, we ask what Marc Gasol’s future will be with the Lakers, what his role could still be, and if he’ll end up starting and finishing the season on the team on our latest Lakers Fast Break podcast!

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Presented by our friends at the Hoop Heads Podcast Network, ThriveFantasy,  NBA Draft Junkies,  lakerholics.com,  lakersball.com,  Basketball University, Pop Culture Cosmos, Inside Sports Fantasy Football, the novel Congratulations, You Suck (available for purchase HERE), and Retro City Games!

Why Lakers Need to Save Schroder and Transform Him into Trading Chip

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The Lakers are on the verge of making a mega mistake. After missing an opportunity to turn Alex Caruso into a trading chip, it looks like the Lakers are going to make the same mistake by letting Dennis Schroder walk.

While Rob Pelinka has done a great job finding shooters after trading for Russell Westbrook, he has put the Lakers at risk of being handcuffed by a lack of viable trading chips at the midseason deadline and next summer. With Talen Horton-Tucker’s $10 million and Kendrick Nunn’s $5 contracts as their only trading chips greater then the minimum salary, the Lakers desperately need to convert Dennis Schroder into a viable trading chip.

If they allow Schroder to walk for nothing like Caruso, the Lakers will only have THT’s and Nunn’s plus eight minimum salary contracts to use to make a trade to upgrade the roster or fill a roster hole at the midseason deadline. Since Horton-Tucker and Nunn are keepers, the Lakers will essentially enter the trade deadline and next summer with no ability to make a major trade unless they’re able to transform Dennis Schroder into a viable trading chip.

It’s probably too late to do anytbing at this point about allowing Caruso to walk without even getting a trade exception back but that’s a mistake the Lakers just cannot make with Schroder regardless of the luxury taxes. Schroder would give the Lakers the viable trading chip they need at the deadline. They could trade him to another team to fill a major need or trade him into another team’s cap space to avoid paying the luxury taxes.

The Lakers’ $189 million in projected luxury taxes for next season now just ranks 6th in the league behind the Warriors’ $362 million leads, Nets’ $306 million, Clippers’ $300 million, Bucks $200 million, and Jazz’ $192 million. With the NBA headed towards an explosion of teams willing to pay luxury taxes, the Lakers need to rethink how much they were willing to pay to build a championship roster because the bar has now been officially raised.

Imagine the difference between the Lakers having a $10 million tradeable contract or trade exception from re-signing or trade-and-signing Dennis Schroder versus having to trade THT or Nunn to improve the roster.

The Los Angeles Lakers Cap Dilemma: Accept Hard Cap or Pay Luxury Taxes!

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The Lakers road back to championship contention depends on whether they chose to accept a hard cap by pursuing sign-and-trades for other team’s free agents or opt to pay luxury taxes by re-signing all of their own free agents.

There are advantages to being hardcapped, namely being able to sign-and-trade for other teams’ free agents and being able to use the full $9.5 million Mid-Level and the $3.7 million Bi-Annual Exceptions to sign free agents. But being hardcapped has consequences. The team’s total annual salaries cannot ever exceed $143 million, which greatly limits the trade and free agency opportunities the team can take advantage of during the season.

Declining to be hardcapped has advantages in that teams can go over the cap to re-sign their own free agents using various versions of Bird rights. That’s critical for the Lakers who have numerous free agents of their own. For big market teams like the Lakers with strong local revenues, going over the cap allows them more freedom to create deep and versatile rosters with the only penalty being a brutal luxury tax that could cost $25-$50 million.

So let’s take a look at the Lakers’ salary cap situation to see what roster building options they have should they decide to accept being hardcapped or commit to paying the luxury taxes and re-signing their own free agents.

1. The Los Angeles Lakers’ Options If Hardcapped.

LAKERS TRADE KCP & KUZMA FOR KYLE LOWRY

Adding a third superstar like Kyle Lowry, whom the Lakers tried to trade for during the season, to go with LeBron James and Anthony Davis might be a sign-and-trade the Lakers might accept though it would hardcap them.

Let’s look at the Lakers’ salary cap numbers after the above proposed trade to see the impact of being hardcapped on their roster. Accepting Lowry in a sign-and-trade would hardcap the Lakers at $143 million for the season. The key is how much they have to pay for the third superstar. Paying Kyle Lowry $22.0 million per year for three years still allows the Lakers to keep everybody on their roster but Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell.

After trading Kuzma and KCP for Lowry, the Lakers would have four players under contract — James, Davis, Lowry, and Gasol — for $101.2 total salary, leaving them with $41.8 million under the hard cap to build out the roster. That’s enough to cover $10.0 million to re-sign THT, $9.0 million of the full MLE, $5.0 million to for Caruso, $1.9 million for McKinnie, $1.6 million for the #22 pick, $5.0 million for Deng, and $9.3 million for 6 roster spots.

LAKERS $143 M ILLION SALARY CAP SPENDING UNDER A HARD CAP

Signing-and-trading Kuzma and KCP for another team’s free agent earning less than $22 million per year would enable the Lakers to bring back their own free agents other than Schroder and Harrell and pay minimal taxes.

2. The Los Angeles Lakers’ Options If Not Hardcapped.

LAKERS TRADE KUZMA, KCP, HARRELL, MCKINNIE, & PICK FOR ROZIER AND HIELD

The Lakers might opt to avoid pursuing other teams’ free agents and being hardcapped and instead look to upgrade their roster by bringing back their own free agents and trading for players under contract with other teams.

Not being limited to total annual salaries under $143 million would allow the Lakers to go over the salary cap to trade for players under contract to other teams and to award deserved raises to re-sign their own free agents. The Lakers would have no limit to how far they go over the cap to re-sign key free agents of their own like Schroder, Horton-Tucker, and Caruso. The only penalty they would face would be an expensive luxury tax bill.

Here’s a breakdown of how the roster would look after the above proposed trade of Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and Alfonzo McKinnie for the Hornets Terry Rozier and the Kings Buddy Hield. The Lakers total salaries for adding Rozier and Hield and bringing back everybody but Shroder or Harrell would be $157.0 million, which would cost $33.3 million in luxury taxes and a total payroll of $190.3 million

LAKERS $157 MILLION SALARY CAP SPENDING UNDER SOFT CAP

So letting Schroder and Harrell walk and focusing on trades for players under contract rather than sign-and-trades for free agents could also enable the Lakers to build a championship roster but would cost $50 million more.

The availablity of the ‘right’ player will determine whether the Lakers opt to go after other teams’ free agents and be hardcapped or re-sign their own free agents, trade for players under contract, and incur major luxury taxes.

The Lakers would be wise to eschew pursuing sign-and-trades for other teams’ free agents unless the player is a legitimate third superstar who earns less than $22 million per year to complement LeBron and AD. Otherwise, they would be smart to look to trade for high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting guards and bring back most of their own free agents even if it cost them $190 million rather than $143 million in salaries and taxes.

The competitive landscape of the league has changed dramatically since the Lakers won their Bubble Championship. The Lakers woud be smart to avoid chasing other teams’ free agents and becoming hardcapped at $143 million.

Four Sign-and-Trade Deals Involving Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell

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The only way the Los Angeles Lakers can upgrade their starting point guard, shooting guard, and center positions is to find trading partners able and willing to sign-and-trade for Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell.

Otherwise, the Lakers simple don’t have the trading chips to do more than fill one of those three starting positions. Right now, the Lakers’ only major tradeable contracts are Kuzma’s and KCP’s $13 million annual contracts. Finding trading partners to pay Schroder the $25 million and Harrell the $15 million they’re seeking will be challenging but would give the Lakers the additional trading chips they need to rebuild their starting lineups.

So let’s take a look at which NBA teams could be interested in sign-and-trade deals for either Dennis Schroder or Montrezl Harrell and who also could have a player or players who would be good fits on the Lakers.

1. Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors

The Lakers should obviously revisit the failed Schroder and Caldwell-Pope for Lowry deal that fell through at last season’s trade deadlline because the Lakers would not include young star Horton-Tucker as part of the package.

In retrospect, the Lakers and the Raptors both could have second thoughts about not going through with this deal as both teams’ seasons ended on a low note. The question is what would a resurrected trade look like today. The Lakers are in a pure win-now mode but aren’t willing to invest over $20 million per year on Dennis Schroder while the Raptors want to do right by Kyle Lowry but could benefit by swapping him for a younger point guard.

While the original deal is no longer viable, a straight up double sign-and-trade of Schroder for Lowry could make sense for both teams and prevent them from losing a star point guard to free agency with nothing in return.

2. Buddy Hield and Sacramento Kings

Another deal discussed last season the Lakers should revisit was the trade of Kyle Kuzma for the Kings’ Buddy Hield. The Lakers have long coveted Hield for his 3-point shooting while the Kings have long had their eyes on Kuzma.

Buddy Hield’s high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting is exactly what the Lakers need offensively while Kyle Kuzma enjoyed his best season ever playing under Kings’ coach Luke Walton when he coached the Lakers. With the emergence of rookie Tyrese Halliburton as the Kings’ starting shooting guard, Sacremento is looking to get off Hield’s big contract and could also use a quality scoring big to back up Richaun Holmes at center.

A trade of Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell for Buddy Hield would give the Lakers the elite 3-point shooting two guard they need while giving the Kings two elite role players who would upgrade their bench and roster.

3. Russell Westbrook and Washington Wizards

Russell Westbrook’s a mediocre 3-point shooter, only averaging 30.5% from deep for his career, and a turnover machine, averaging almost 5 per game, but he’s also a walking and talking triple-double averaging 22.2/11.5/11.7.

It’s hard to fathom what the Washington Wizard’s game plan is going forward but there’s a point where they need to trade Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook and begin the long term task of rebuilding their roster. The win now Los Angeles Lakers need an upgrade a point guard over Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook would give them an elite triple-double point guard to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Trading Dennis Schroder, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for Russell Westbrook could give the Lakers the third superstar they need to compete against the Brooklyn Nets and their Superstar Big Three.

4. Devonte Graham and Malik Monk and the Charlotte Hornets

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for high volume, high percentage 3-point shooters and the Charlotte Hornets need more front court size and diversity and showed interest in trading for Kuzma and Harrell last season.

With the emergence of LaMelo Ball as starting point guard, Terry Rozier has moved to starting shooting guard and the Hornets have a surplus of good 3-point shooting guards to be traded for more front court size and diversity. Charlotte needs upgrades at both the starting power forward and center positions to balance their guard and wing heavy roster. Kuzma would slide right into the starting power forwar slot while Harrell would be 6th man.

Trading Harrell and Kuzma for Graham and Monk should be a win-win for both the Lakers and the Hornets. The Lakers get desperately needed 3-point shooting in the backcourt while the Hornets get great depth at the 4 and 5.