Basketball
Schröder plans to participate in the World Cup despite an open NBA future
Plans with participation in the World Cup: Dennis Schröder. photo
© Maximilian Haupt/dpa
Dennis Schröder knows it and can do it: be successful with the national team without an NBA contract. What worked for the captain in 2022 should be repeated in 2023. But one thing is different.
After ten years in the NBA, Dennis Schröder has a premiere: “I’ve never flown anywhere and said: I’m on vacation now. I always flew to Braunschweig right after the season and was there with my family. That was vacation for me,” said the 29-year-old basketball professional of the German Press Agency.
“But now is the first time with the family that we want to fly to Mexico. And I have to say I’m excited too.”
The days on the beach with his wife Ellen and their three small children are more important to the national team captain than his unclear future in the NBA. Because, like last summer, it is open for whom Schröder will appear in the future. His contract with NBA record champions Los Angeles Lakers expires, the four games he lost in the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets in mid-May could have been his last in the jersey of the legendary team from the glittering metropolis.
Anything but worried
When Schröder sits on his sunny terrace a little over a week after the end of the season, he seems anything but worried. “Nothing will change for me. I will continue to train as hard as I did every summer to give everything for the national team,” he announced. He will play the World Cup in Asia with Germany in August and September, in Group E he will initially face co-hosts Japan, Finland and Australia. As with bronze at the home European Championships the year before, there should be success again with the national team – completely unaffected by his personal future in the best basketball league in the world.
“We have good opportunities this summer,” said Schröder, who can officially negotiate a contract with teams from July 4th. A good picture of where you would fit in as a player will only be available after the draft on June 22 anyway. “What I do know is that a lot of teams want me. It’s always a good feeling to be in the best league, no matter what your contract is, no matter the circumstances.”
He is open to many teams. When he talks about potential superstar Victor Wembanyama, Schröder briefly raves about the possibilities with a team-mate like the young Frenchman. Rumors of interest from the San Antonio Spurs could fuel that. It is important to him “that I really come into an organization where I really feel comfortable and can be myself, just like I could do here in LA,” said Schröder.
Lakers return not ruled out
A return to the Lakers is therefore not excluded at all, the chemistry with the alpha animals LeBron James and Anthony Davis was right. The 17-time champion has to solve a few puzzles himself. After all, not only Austin Reaves should be kept after his impressive performances in the first two years of the NBA, but also Japan’s star Rui Hachimura. Whether and how much money the Lakers can offer Schröder because of this is open.
Lakers experts estimate that Schröder could have an annual salary of $7.5 million. He himself does not want to deal with this number. “There are opportunities where it can either go higher or lower, so I’m waiting until July 4th,” he said. Schröder’s salary before his eleventh NBA season is not the focus. “I’ve made a lot of money in my career, I’m very blessed, I can live in this house, I have healthy children,” he said. Money is nowadays “important that you don’t have many problems, but as I said: family is more important than anything else.”
When asked under what circumstances he would not play the World Cup in Asia in August and September, he replied: “If I get injured while getting fit.” Or if there was something with his family. “But other than that, there aren’t many reasons I would skip a summer with the national team.” At the tournament in Germany, Schröder’s future in the NBA was open until the semifinals against Spain – in the end the team won bronze.
This success helped his reputation at home, and his reputation has also increased significantly in Los Angeles since then. After a terrible start and only two wins from the first twelve games, the Lakers made it to the finals of the Western Conference, Schröder had his share. He is appreciated in the city “as a person, as a player. That was the reason why I came here. To show people what I’m like as a guy.”
