After the dramatic loss of the European Championship semi-finals, DBB leader Dennis Schröder can be happy: The build-up player receives a new NBA contract and returns to the Los Angeles Lakers. Megastar LeBron James is looking forward to it, but Schröder now has his sights set on a medal.
Spectacular comeback: Dennis Schröder returns to the Los Angeles Lakers. The captain of the German national basketball team announced this on Friday evening about an hour after the lost semifinals of the European Championship. “The last year hasn’t felt right. I’m coming back to make everything right,” he wrote on Instagram. According to ESPN and The Athletic, Schroeder is signing a one-year contract and is expected to earn $2.6 million.
Schröder, who has been playing in the North American professional league NBA since 2013, moved to Los Angeles in 2020, but at the end of the 2021 season rejected an offer to extend his contract with the Lakers for four years and $84 million. Last season, the 29-year-old first played for the Boston Celtics and then for the Houston Rockets. He averaged 13.5 points, a good four assists and three rebounds per game. According to information from the US broadcaster ESPN, Schröder’s team has been negotiating with the Lakers for months.
His old and new teammate, US superstar LeBron James, is very happy about the return of the fast playmaker. “Yessir!!” the 37-year-old wrote on Instagram: “So damn happy to have you back.” “I’ll give everything I have, every single day. It’s an honor to play for the Lakers,” Schröder wrote: “I can’t wait to start.” Lakers Vice President Rob Pelinka said: “We are very pleased to welcome Dennis Schröder back to the Lakers.” Despite megastar James, the team from the Californian metropolis is not considered a title candidate in the coming NBA season.
The leader of the German national team has performed trumps at the European Championships at home so far. Schröder scored a strong 30 points in the semi-final against Spain (91:96), but the dream of gold ended anyway. On Sunday (5:15 p.m. / RTL and MagentaSport) the game for third place against Poland for the DBB team and Schröder is still about the third European Championship medal after 1993 (gold) and 2005 (silver).
