The Los Angeles Lakers need to have a replacement plan for Dennis Schroder
The Los Angeles Lakers need to have a backup plan for what feels like the inevitable departure of Dennis Schroder.
It’s one thing to know that Dennis Schroder isn’t worth what he’s likely going to get on the open free-agent market. It’s an entirely different thing to be prepared to let him walk and possibly lose him for nothing this offseason. That’s the waters that the Los Angeles Lakers will have to navigate through over the next few weeks.
According to reports, Schroder believes he’s worth $100 million and there’s at least an outside chance that he’ll be able to demand that on the open market. The Lakers, on the other hand, don’t believe he’s worth that and aren’t even sure he’s a legit starting point guard.
Assuming that these reports are accurate, the Lakers need to prepare a replacement plan for Schroder. The worst potential outcome from this offseason for the Lakers is losing Schroder for nothing and then replacing him with a much lesser player.
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Sure, the Lakers would save money but would get significantly worse in the process. The last thing that the Lakers need to do this offseason is take another step back. This is a team that can’t afford that, especially considering that LeBron James is only getting older while taking into account Anthony Davis’ injury history.
The Los Angeles Lakers need to prepare for the uncertainty of the offseason
If Los Angeles knows that Schroder is going to get a major deal during the offseason, this is a team that already needs to have some backup plans in place by the time the draft and/or free agency comes.
Or, at the very least, hope that Schroder would be willing to participate in a sign-and-trade with whichever team he wishes to sign with during the offseason.
Short of one of the big-name point guards taking a significant pay cut, it will likely take a trade for the Lakers to even break even this offseason if they’re losing Schroder. Either way, this has to be something that the Lakers have begun to make a priority.
Los Angeles is coming off a disappointing title defense and there’s a good chance that we’re going to see a lesser LeBron next season. He’s only getting older and Father Time has proven to be undefeated.
The Lakers need to exhaust every avenue to improve this offseason and assuming that Schroder won’t be back with the team makes that goal a little more difficult.
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It’s perfectly fine that the Lakers are ready to move on from Schroder. It’s just imperative they have a contingency plan in place. Quite frankly, I’m not sure that’s a foregone conclusion at this point in the offseason.