Dennis Schröder will reportedly seek a contract ‘in the range of $100-$120 million’ in free agency

If there’s one thing Dennis Schröder has made clear since he was acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers in November, it’s that he plans to sign a new contract with the Lakers on the condition that the terms are “fair.” That may seem like a given, but it’s become apparent over the past few months that Schröder’s definition of fair doesn’t exactly align with the general public’s.

In March, Schröder reportedly turned down a four-year, $84 million contract extension from the Lakers. Schröder denied that money was the reason his extension talks with the Lakers broke down in his exit interview in June, but recent comments from the Vice President of the German Basketball Federation, Armin Andres, suggest that was only partially true (h/t TalkBasket.net):

According to Armin Andres, Vice President of German Basketball Federation (DBB), the point guard is expecting to a deal in the range of $100-$120 million. Andres mentioned the fact as it the reason why Schroder is not representing Germany this summer as the burden of insuring his future contract of that value is too big on DBB.

“Dennis Schroeder has communicated this clearly: he wants 100, 120 million – which he will probably also get – and this sum insured cannot be insured on the normal market at the moment,” Andres said on Abteilung Basketball podcast as reported by Manuel Baraniak.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard of Schröder asking for more money than the Lakers offered in March. After the trade deadline, Jovan Buha and Bill Oram of The Athletic reported that Schröder was seeking a contract worth north of $20 million annually. However, this is the first time we’ve heard the $120 million figure thrown out.

Right now, there are only 11 points guards in the NBA that are set to make $30 million for the 2021-22 season. Of those 11 point guards, just one of them hasn’t made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the last five years: Jamal Murray, who put up All-Star level numbers this past season.

While it’s certainly not impossible that Schröder will get a near-max contract as an unrestricted free agent, it would be a huge surprise if he did given the lack of a precedent for a player of his caliber getting that type of money. It’s far more likely that he gets a contract within the $20 million range even after his disappointing end to the season, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.