For the last three seasons, no NBA point guard has had better teachers than Dennis Schröder.
Look at the NBA’s all-time assist list: In the 2018-19 season, he played behind Russell Westbrook (No. 13) in Oklahoma City, then the next season Chris Paul (No. 5). This year, there’s obviously LeBron James (No. 8), but then there’s also assistant coach Jason Kidd (No. 2), who seem like they’re both in the 27-year-old’s ear as neither can take the court for the time being.
Whatever wisdom Schröder might be getting from those wizened ball-handlers — as different as their styles have been — he seems to only want more. While he warms up with assistant Phil Handy, who has worked on his handles and change of pace, the ambitious German guard recently told Kidd not to be a stranger.
“I told him, ‘Talk even more to me,’” Schröder said. “Be the guy who comes up to me and say ‘Dennis look for this or Dennis look for that.’ Or ‘Be more aggressive.’ Or ‘Look for your teammates.’ He knows. He did it for a long time in the best league in the world. And now as a coach, I for sure take that every single day.”
It’s not for confidence: Since he arrived in L.A., Schröder has never lacked for that. He claimed the starting job from Day 1, and he’s proven he’s worthy of it. But there’s a difference between being a starter, and being a go-to player on a team that wins. In Monday’s grinding win over Orlando, he showed how perhaps the pearls of wisdom he’s getting on the bench has translated into being the latter.
It was Schröder who carried the Lakers down the stretch, deftly weaving through the screens of Anthony Davis into pull-up jumpers and lay-ups. Hitting four straight buckets in the final six minutes, his sometimes hot-and-cold shooting touch warmed up at just the right moment.
The Lakers have long admired the game of Schröder, who they considered trading for a season ago, and at his best, he’s a dynamic offensive force and a fiery full court defender. But there’s a certain je ne sais quoi that felt lacking when James first was injured — call it “leadership” or “intangibles,” but those terms might even fail precisely capturing what was missing. Only now, a month or so later, that mercurial quality seems to be filling out.
“That’s why we feel like it’s going to be a silver lining. I do think it was accelerated,” coach Frank Vogel said. “Obviously when Bron takes the reins back, you’re going to have Dennis as an impacting scorer and comfortable in that situation as well and then Bron goes to the bench and then Dennis is back in the comfort zone of what the way he’s grown.”
To be clear, there’s measurable impact for Schröder’s growth: During April, he’s become the Lakers’ leading scorer (16.6 ppg) while firing above 40 percent from 3-point range. His assists have risen sharply, jumping from 4.3 apg in February to 8.4 apg in April, which is as prolific a passer as he’s been in the league. His 21 points and 10 assists against Orlando marked his third straight double-double, which has never happened before in his NBA career.
Schröder is also increasingly the playmaker in tight situations. He helped force overtime against the Utah Jazz on the way to a home win, and was the key scorer into pulling it out over the Magic. These haven’t exactly been dazzling victories at the top of the Lakers’ resume, but every win counts, and it’s given him a sense of ownership in clutch situations.
“I think we still got a lot of firepower in this locker room,” Schröder said. “But when it comes to floor general, get a bucket if we need to, hold it down when LeBron is not on the floor, whatever it is, I try to help my team with that.”
But beyond production, leadership is also taking accountability, and Schröder has done that, too. After a frustrating loss in New York in which he racked up five turnovers — which only highlighted that the Lakers were last-place in turnovers in the league — Schröder said “I’m not putting nobody into this but myself.” He hasn’t turned the ball over twice in six of the seven games since.
There’s also a toughness factor for Schröder, who has hinted for the last month about issues with his ankles, with his knees, with his tailbone and pelvis. But the only time he’s missed games was for the COVID-19 protocols — otherwise he’s played through during a stretch when the Lakers have been badly in need of bodies.
These things get noticed. And the common refrain is the Lakers would like to see him keep it up regardless of who is in the lineup.
“We don’t want him to kind of fall back when ‘Bron comes back, even though ‘Bron does handle the ball a lot,” Davis said. “ We still want him to push the pace and get in the paint, attacking, finding seams, finding guys for open shots, making those right passes and those right plays, and that’s what we’re going to need from him in order for us to win the championship.”
A lot is riding on how much of the load Schröder can carry down the stretch. There’s a bid to repeat, which obviously trumps all from the Lakers’ perspective. But more personally, there’s his contract: He’s shown an intent to enter free agency, where he hopes to command north of $20 million per year, which isn’t franchise player money, but the closest thing to it. Schröder has also relayed in interviews (both in English and in German) that he has a good relationship with general manager Rob Pelinka, which seems to indicate that the tax-strapped Lakers have a good chance to bring him back.
While the boardroom will be where the team eventually makes that judgement this offseason, in the locker room, there’s a lot of belief in him. Schröder said one of the most meaningful voices in his ear is James himself, who is constantly pushing him to stay on edge.
“I can’t wait that he comes back,” he said. “He always tells me, ‘Dennis, you’ve got to be aggressive. You’re not just a normal point guard. Do your (expletive).’ We’re really excited to get started again with him soon.”
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