Dennis Schroder, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James
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Dennis Schroder #17 and LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers react after James' foul during the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets game four of the Western Conference Finals.
Ithas been arelative trend over the past few years that once certain players leave the Los Angeles Lakers, they find more success. While that might be a stretch for DennisSchroder, who played for the Lakers in 2020-21 andagain in 2022-23, the German has a strong history of leading his national team to great heights.
Most recently,Schroder led Germany to the Finals of the 2025 EuroBasket Tournament. After two full seasons starting in Los Angeles alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis,Schroder is just one win away from winning the biggest competition regarding European national team basketball.
“DennisSchröder scored 26 points and made 12 assists to help Germany beat Finland 98-86 and reach the EuroBasket final on Friday,” the Associated Press wrote afterSchroder and Germany’ssemifinal win.
After two previous seasons with the Lakers,Schroder is currently a member of the Sacramento Kings. The 31-year-old point guard has played with a total of nine other teams over the course of his 12-year NBA career. Last season, he played for a total of three teams, the most by a player in recent league history.
Schroder Leading Germany In EuroBasket
Germany has been a leading candidate to win the 2025 EuroBasket Tournament, as along withSchroder, its rosterfeatures multiple other NBA players. Most notable areFranz Wagner,Daniel Theis,Isaac Bonga, andTristan da Silva.
While Wagner is the highest-paid and likely highest-valued NBA playerout of thatbunch, it has beenchiefly he andSchroder leading the team in EuroBasket. Wagner’s 21.1 points per game sit right ahead ofSchroder’s 20.9 point mark, while both are the only two on the team also averaging at least 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
“Germany’s two big guns made sure that Finland did not dream long of an upset as DennisSchroder and Franz Wagner played otherworldly,” FIBA wrote on their official recap of thesemifinal game. “But the award goes toSchroder, who scored 26 points with 4three-pointers and also dished out 12 assists, the most by any player in a EuroBasketSemi-Final over the last 30 years.”
Though getting past the other top NBA players in the EuroBasket Tournament is an accomplishment in itself,Schroder has a history of leading Germany in international basketball competitions.
His highlights include helping Germany win the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, in which hewon tournament MVP andbeat Team USA in the semifinals. Schroder also led Germany in scoring during both the 2017 and 2022 EuroBasket Tournaments, and was the country’s flag bearer at the 2024 Paris Olympics, in which the team finished fourth.
Career In the NBA, Former LeBron Teammate
Schroder’s career in the NBA wouldbe classified as that of a journeyman. Besides the five straight seasons with Atlanta Hawks to start his tenure in the league, the point guard has only played on one team in consecutive seasons once.That came with the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2018-2020, but since then,Schroder has moved at least once in each of the subsequent seasons.
Now heading into the 2025-26 NBA season,Schroder is a member of the Kings. After playing parts of last season on each of the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, and Detroit Pistons, the German point guard now heads to a team in flux after trading De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs.
Free agent guard Dennis Schroder has agreed to a three-year, $45 million deal with the Sacramento Kings, sources tell ESPN. Kings officials and Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports finalized the deal Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/Tl1kViu4yW
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 1, 2025
Regardless,Schroder has been an impactful player on multiple teams throughout his time in the league. While on the Lakers with James,Schroder started nearly 90% of the team’s games in two seasons in which Los Angeles made the playoffs.
In the Lakers’ title-defending season of 2020-21,Schroder was third on the team in scoring behind only James and Davis.That trend was bucked in his second stint in Los Angeles, butthat team featured other prominent playerslikeD’Angelo Russell, Russell Westbrook, and Austin Reaves.
Though they played just two seasons together, James has consistently heldSchroder in high regard,posting “Yessir!! So happy to have you back!! You’re like that! LFG!!!” whenhis signing with the Lakers was announced in 2022.
Schroder is one win away from leading Germany to their second EuroBasket title in history and is a likely shoe-in for the competition’s All-Tournament team.