Last trade deadline, the Brooklyn Nets made an under-the-radar trade shipping out fan-favorite punching bag Spencer Dinwiddie to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for veterans Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young. At the time, the deal was considered addition by subtraction, with Brooklyn ridding themselves of a player who clearly didn’t want to play for them.
Young was just a salary filler, however Schroder quickly provided some stabilizing play in the backcourt for a team that had very little in the way of true point guard options. With the Nets last season Schroder averaged 14.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 42.4% overall and 41.2% from three.
Still, the soon-to-be 31-year-old veteran point guard originally from Germany has been mostly an afterthought in the discourse surrounding the Nets and this upcoming season, but his performance in the Olympics has brought him to the forefront of the conversation.
Schroder dazzled for Team Germany in the Olympics
Despite Germany falling to Serbia in the Bronze Medal game, Schroder’s performance throughout the games electrified his countrymen and basketball fans as a whole. The point guard finished the games averaging 17.2 points and 7.5 assists per game while shooting 45.8% overall and 39.1% from deep. His 17.2 points per game ranked 13th in the star-studded contest while his 7.5 assists per game were good for fifth overall in Paris.
Throughout his NBA career, Schroder has filled multiple roles. The speedy 6-1 guard was a first-round pick, no. 17 overall, by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2013 draft. Early in his career, he established himself as a sixth-man of the year candidate and a microwave scorer off the bench before being elevated to a starting role in his fourth season. In year five, Schroder put up a career-high 19.4 points per game while also dishing out 6.2 assists per game as Atlanta’s primary floor general.
After leaving Atlanta, Schroder again took on a sixth-man role for the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder, finishing second in the Sixth-Man of the Year voting in 2019-2020 scoring 18.9 points and racking up 4.0 assists per game during the campaign. He then bounced around playing for numerous contenders as a complementary scorer for two different stints with the Los Angeles Lakers and in a similar role for a year with the Boston Celtics.
Schroder showed in the Olympics that he still has the explosion and burst which make him a lethal scorer and playmaker with the ball in his hands, while also being able to hit spot-up threes when the ball comes back around his way. For a Nets team without many reliable options at the point, these are very important skills in order to develop the offensive games of the young players around him.
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Dennis Schroder wants to build a winning culture with the Brooklyn Nets
While with Team Germany, Schroder spoke about his desire to remain with Brooklyn in the future. In an interview with Mark J. Spears, Schroder had the following to say about playing in Brooklyn:
I want to be in Brooklyn long-term. Hopefully that works out. I want to be a veteran who shows the young people the way and how we should play and how we play as a team. I understand that the NBA is always more individual, but I want to make one team like we had in Atlanta where it was about just winning and really not [caring] who scores.
And I want to bring that back to the NBA, to the Brooklyn Nets. And hopefully they see the same vision and of course still compete on the highest level, but that’s going to take some time.
It’s refreshing to hear a prominent veteran seem to want to commit to being part of the rebuilding effort, especially after the last face of the franchise, Mikal Bridges, openly flirted with the crosstown rival New York Knicks before eventually being traded there.
As for the Nets, it’s important to have veteran leaders both on and off the court. It has been discussed in the past how a complete tank is actually more of a hindrance to player development, so having a veteran who understands the path forward, and with experience on both contending and rebuilding teams, is a huge boon for the rebuilding Nets.
Moreover, Schroder is a good offensive creator who can run a system that will allow for the development of less ball-dominant young players such as Noah Clowney, Trendon Watford, Day’ron Sharpe, and others to develop their skills in a real NBA offense. He can also serve as a role model for young guards like Cam Thomas and Keon Johnson who look to grow, and especially in Thomas’s case, develop skills as offensive facilitators in their own right.
Some may look to Schroder’s Olympic performance as his stock rising on the trade market, but he may be most valuable as a leader on this young Brooklyn team moving forward, especially considering the lack of established point guard depth and Ben Simmons’ lengthy injury history. Brooklyn would be wise to keep Schroder in the fold in 2024-2025 and beyond.
