Los Angeles Lakers are counting on keeping Dennis Schröder in the team, while the German guard expressed his willingness to remain in LA.
However, both sides have not reached an agreement yet, while Schröder reportedly declined a four-year, $84M contract from the Lakers recently.
Eric Pincus of the Bleacher Report broke down every detail of the situation around Dennis Schröder potential contract and what the Lakers could offer to their starting point guard as well as the salary cap implications for the team.
“Finding the right price for Schroder may prove challenging, but the Lakers can give him a maximum contract. Harrell, who can opt out of his final year ($9.7 million), can get up to $11.1 million via his non-Bird rights.
Drummond can only earn up to $2.9 million with his non-Bird rights. To get to the cap space needed to pay out even $16 million in starting salary, the Lakers would need to dramatically pare down their roster (by letting free agents walk and trading several players under contract).
The best case for Drummond would be a willingness to stay on at the $5.9 million TMLE, but that’s well below market value. The Lakers could try to get to the $9.5 million NTMLE, but then they would be hard-capped at $143 million, necessitating similar cuts/trades (letting Schroder walk, perhaps sending Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Kyle Kuzma out in a trade).”
The Lakers can exceed their cap to re-sign Schröder and offer him the max salary for players of 7-9 years of experience (30% of the cap).
That does not mean that the Lakers will offer that kind of money to the veteran guard as they will have several free agents in the market next offseason.
In particular, Andre Drummond, Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso are on expiring deals, while Montrelz Harrell could opt out of his $9.7 million contract.
The next offseason will be crucial for the Lakers to keep their championship core around LeBron James and Anthony Davis intact.
