The Los Angeles Lakers are among the many teams that have yet to completely fill out their roster, with a variety of factors as to why that is even with camp just a month away.
Like many teams, L.A. was waiting to see what happened with Kevin Durant’s trade request before inhibiting flexibility by filling out their roster. That door closed on Tuesday with the statement from the team that Durant was going to return to the Nets for this season and lift his trade request, which would all but assure Kyrie Irving is likewise off the market, removing a major trade target of the Lakers. Still, L.A. has designs on trading Russell Westbrook if able, and moving him likely means bringing multiple players back given his salary, and keeping at least one roster spot open remains important for that reason.
The Lakers currently have 14 players on the roster, meaning one open spot currently, along with a pair of non-guaranteed deals in Wenyen Gabriel and Austin Reaves. There are a few spots of bother on the roster, but among them is the point guard position where it’s Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn (who missed all of last season with injury) — and, LeBron James. If they trade Westbrook, they’ll certainly want to add another point guard but even if they don’t, that last roster spot may very well go to point guard depth.
Among the options for the Lakers is a familiar face, as Marc Stein reports Dennis Schröder, who rather famously turned down a 4-year extension in L.A., is a “legit consideration” for the Lakers with that final roster spot.
Re-signing free agent guard Dennis Schröder is a "legit consideration" for the Lakers, league sources say, depending on how the rest of their roster develops.
After one season as a Laker, Schröder played for Boston and Houston in 2021-22.
More NBA notes: https://t.co/EwiaWFuKoI
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 23, 2022
Schröder was dealt from Boston to Houston in the Daniel Theis trade at the deadline last year and has once again found himself without much of a free agent market — although, he’s not alone there as there are still 100 players waiting for a deal who had one last year. While he wasn’t tremendous in his tenure with the Lakers, he’s still an upgrade over the alternatives and does have at least some understanding of what it takes to play with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, which is going to be important for a point guard. Schröder also has history with coach Darvin Ham from their shared time in Atlanta early in Schröder’s career.
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/dennis-schroder-lakers-return-free-agent-legit-rumors/