Dennis Schroder hardballing Lakers in contract extension talks?

Dennis Schroder and the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be in quite the staring contest over his contract situation.

Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Tuesday that the Lakers guard turned down extension offers from the team in the range of four years and $80 million. Steins adds that the Lakers considered trading Schroder at the deadline due to the gap in their contract talks. No trade ultimately materialized however, and Schroder will be a free agent after the season.

This seems to be a bit of hardballing on Schroder’s part. The Lakers traded for him last offseason. That means that they also acquired Schroder’s Bird rights, which allow them to go over the salary cap to re-sign him. It also means that it will be difficult for the Lakers to replace Schroder if he leaves.

The 27-year-old Schroder has held down the Lakers’ backcourt this season as a full-time starter. But his averages of 15.4 points and 4.9 assists per game still mark a regression from his peak production of years past.

We recently heard that the Lakers are willing to spend big to keep Schroder. This may be a case of him leveraging his position in order to secure the bag.