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The Los Angeles Lakers are considering all of their options leading up to the trade deadline. That may seem like a given when you consider the situation that they’re in with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but not even the most essential role players on the team appear to be completely safe from being moved.
We already knew that the Lakers had made Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell available, but according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, starting point guard Dennis Schröder could be dealt as well:
Of note regarding the Kyle Lowry-Lakers rumors: It seems Los Angeles became open to discussing all of Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with rival teams as of Monday night, and that chatter has not since quieted among league executives.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) March 24, 2021
Schröder’s availability is a new and somewhat surprising development. The Lakers acquired the 27-year-old, German-born point guard in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder last offseason and since then, he’s been a steady presence for them in the starting lineup. Through 40 games this season, Schröder has averaged 15 points, 4.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and a steal per game.
Schröder has also expressed a desire sign a long-term contract extraction with the Lakers on several occasions, but with the caveat that the terms of the deal had to be fair. Within that context, it’s possible that both sides haven’t been able to agree on a number, and that the Lakers are now working on finding a trade partner for him to avoid losing him for nothing in the summer.
Now I understand that’s no small assumption to make, especially given the limited information we have, but with rumors that it could take of north of $20 million for the Lakers to keep him in Los Angeles and the Lakers’ reported interest in Kyle Lowry, it’s not outrageous to guess that Schröder could be flipped.
The thing Lakers fans should be wary of is too many players going out, particularly at the guard spots. For example, if Schröder, Caldwell-Pope, Marc Gasol and a future first-round pick is enough to get you Kyle Lowry, then you can probably like with a guard rotation of Lowry, Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker in the postseason. However, if Lowry takes all three of Schröder, Caldwell-Pope and Horton-Tucker, the Lakers run the risk of not being able to fill those holes in the buyout market.
One thing’s clear however: the Lakers haven’t been sitting on their hands like everyone thought they’d be after the offseason they had. The next 24 hours could get really interesting. The deadline for deals is Thursday at noon.
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