Getty Dennis Schroder guarding Chris Paul.
Anthony Davis has been taking most of the heat for the Los Angeles Lakers Game 1 loss against the Phoenix Suns. However, he’s not the only player who struggled. Dennis Schroder is supposed to be the team’s third-best player but he’s put together some of his worst games as a Laker recently. He had a horrific performance against the Golden State Warriors in the play-in game and wasn’t much better against the Suns.
Schroder is a free agent this offseason and is expecting a massive payday. If he continues to struggle during the most important games, he’s going to likely lose a ton of money. Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins was on ESPN’s Get Up and put the guard on blast and questioned how much Schroder is going to be worth in free agency.
Based on the last couple of games, it’s hard to imagine any team would want to pay Schroder anything close to $100 million a year. There have been times he looked like the Lakers’ third-best player but he’s struggled lately. They’ll need him to turn things around if they hope to win a title.
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Schroder Explains What Lakers Need to Do Better
The Lakers as a whole were just bad in Game 1. It’s not necessarily squarely on Schroder and Davis. Los Angeles won the championship last season but had games where they looked really bad. They should be able to bounce back. Schroder believes he knows what the team has to do better.
“Everybody’s just got to be ready to knock them down when you’re open,” Schroder said after the game, via Lakers Nation. “And we can still get fastbreak points, we had a couple of those where we passed to the corner or to the 45 to the open three.
“But if they’re not falling we have to still put pressure on the rim and try to score the easy layups, try to get a feel for it and then the threes are gonna fall. We know what we got to do, we missed 11 free throws as well, big key, myself, I missed three. And we lost by nine so we’re still gonna adjust, watch film and then just be ready to go and give everything we have on Tuesday.”
Should Lakers Be Worried?
While it’s easy for fans to panic after a bad loss, the Lakers shouldn’t even be close to worried. They put together the worst performance imaginable and still only lost by nine. Also, Chris Paul is banged up. If he’s not playing to the best of his abilities, the Suns have no chance.
It’s easy to forget that the Lakers lost their first playoff game last season. Many jumped ship then and thought the Portland Trail Blazers would take the series. Los Angeles ended up winning the next four games and cruising to another championship. Though this Lakers team has been lackluster for most of the year, they still have too much talent to go out in the first couple of rounds. They’ll figure things out and get back on track soon.