Lakers trade rumors: LA in ‘active’ talks for Dennis Schroder

There have already been plenty of whispers that Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka loves Dennis Schroder, and now it looks like those rumors will be fully consumed. According to multiple reports, the Lakers quickly struck a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday morning that will see them send Danny Green and their first-round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft to acquire the sixth man from last year. -up:

It’s worth noting that the Lakers need to match the pay here, which makes Danny Green the logical candidate. We already knew the Lakers made him available in trade talks, and he’s making almost exactly the same money as Schroder, which makes his inclusion in trade the easiest route to take.

Here are my thoughts on that deal, earlier this week, when I theorized about it:

Green’s aid defense would certainly be missed if this still-moot deal – and to be clear, Shelburne isn’t reporting Green would be in the offer, just speculating – but Schroder was active in the Thunder’s defense. last season, competently keeping bigger players and showing some toughness in the process.

Last season’s version of Schroder would also help the Lakers offensively by giving them another creator and a competent shooter, probably a lot more than Green did in a downed (but still decent) year for the veteran wing. This could be a deal that would really make the Lakers better, so it’s easy to see why they’d be interested.

I wrote this earlier because it’s the second time in less than a week that there have been rumors about Schroder and the Lakers, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne already reported earlier this week that the The team’s desire to set trade deadlines for Schroder had been renewed in the talks. already this offseason. It’s worth noting that Schroder didn’t want to go to Los Angeles at the time, but that might have changed now that the Thunder has gone into a full rebuild.

Could this deal backfire on you? Absolutely. Green’s excellent defense might make his loss felt more than you might expect, but Schroder is far better at the things the Lakers need than a lot of other guards the team might be looking at in the market. free agents:

Pelinka and that front office also deserve the benefit of the doubt on almost any move they make this offseason. A lot of people had questions about the Lakers roster last year as well, well … I’d say it went well.

Moreover, this deal likely puts the Lakers out of the race to trade for DeMar DeRozan, Chris Paul and all the other big contract players they’ve been linked to, as Green’s salary was the main ballast in such deals. We’ll see how it all goes when the trades can be officially completed tomorrow, Monday November 16, but it looks like at least one has already been done.

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