The Los Angeles Lakers have to decide if they want to make an effort to re-sign Dennis Schroder this summer, but the star point guard could make their decision easy with his contract demands.
Schroder, who is German, has chosen not to play for Germany at the Olympics. Armin Andres, the vice president of the German Basketball Federation, said in a podcast appearance this week that Schroder has turned down the Olympic invitation because he is focused on getting top dollar in free agency.
How much does Schroder want? Between $100-120 million, apparently.
“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, according to a translation from TalkBasket.net.
That meshes with reports we heard earlier in the year about contract extension talks between Schroder and the Lakers. Schroder supposedly turned down an extension offer that was worth around $80 million over four years, and the Lakers considered trading him because the gap in negotiations was so significant.
The Lakers acquired Schroder’s Bird Rights when they traded for him, so they can go over the salary cap to re-sign him. That doesn’t mean they want to.
There has been talk that Schroder was frustrated with his role this season. Magic Johnson was also highly critical of Schroder’s play during the postseason, which could sour the point guard on L.A. even further.
We know of at least one team that could target Schroder in free agency, but he may have to lower his asking price. The 27-year-old averaged 15.4 points and 5.8 assists per game this season. He may have a tough time finding a team that is willing to pay him north of $100 million.
