Dennis Schröder is coming off of the best season of his career in terms of finally putting together productivity and efficiency, starring in a sixth man role for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 26-year-old point guard averaged 18.9 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game on a 46.9/38.5/83.9 shooting split, with career-highs in field goal and three-point percentage, and that earned him the attention of the defending champs who traded for him this offseason.
While Schröder came off the bench, he still held a starring role for OKC, playing 30.8 minutes per night and was effectively tied with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (19.0) and Danilo Gallinari (18.7) for the team’s leading scorer. One would think that experience and the success the Thunder saw with that rotation might have made an imprint on the German guard, and led him to recognize that starting isn’t as important as finishing — and that a bench role can actually increase your usage and effectiveness for the team.
However, that doesn’t appear to be the case as Schröder met with the Lakers media for the first time on Monday and made it abundantly clear that he believes he is a starter, full stop, and that his agent made that clear to L.A. prior to the trade.
Dennis Schroder makes his case to start: “I did this off the bench stuff already the last two years in OKC … I think with LeBron and AD I can be helpful as a starter in the PG position.”
— Bill Oram (@billoram) November 30, 2020
Full quote:
“I did this off the bench stuff already for two years with OKC. I think I will try to move forward, and I think with AD and LeBron, I can be helpful as a starter at the PG position so that LeBron don’t have so much stuff in his mind.”
— Christian Rivas (@RadRivas) November 30, 2020
It should be noted that Schröder wasn’t asked it starting was important to him; he just said it. So, yeah.
— Christian Rivas (@RadRivas) November 30, 2020
With Rajon Rondo in Atlanta now (where Schröder started his career), it’s very likely the Lakers see him operating in that starting capacity as well. That likely means a starting lineup with Dennis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Marc Gasol, with Alex Caruso, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma, and Wesley Matthews headlining the bench unit. Frank Vogel will have his hands full adjusting his rotations to a new lineup and figuring out exactly how he wants to deploy all of his new players, but one thing is clear and that is that Schröder isn’t here for the “bench stuff” anymore — which isn’t exactly a new stance from Schröder, who didn’t enjoy his time as a reserve behind Jeff Teague in Atlanta.
What will likely determine whether his move back to being a starter is successful is whether his shooting efficiency translates with the Lakers, which is a genuinely big question. Schröder was tremendous shooting the ball last season, but that came in part from being deployed alongside at least one, if not two, fellow on-ball creators in Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in OKC, who helped tee him up for catch-and-shoot looks. LeBron James can certainly do that, but that’s about it for perimeter players on the Lakers capable of doing so and that will test exactly how real Schröder’s shooting uptick last year was. If he dips back to a sub-35 percent shooter with L.A., it’ll provide some of the same spacing problems LeBron had to navigate a year ago — although, that obviously ended up working out just fine in the end.
It’s a massive opportunity for Schröder to take on a major role with a championship favorite, and his confidence has never been lacking. However, embracing whatever role is asked of him hasn’t always been a strong point, and you can bet that LeBron and Vogel have an idea of what he’ll be doing. How much that matches up with Dennis’ desires to be a starter and key contributor will likely determine exactly how successful their partnership is as the Lakers chase a second straight championship.