Dennis Schröder is one of the better backups in the NBA. In his second full season as a member of the surprise Atlanta Hawks last season, the 22-year-old Schröder averaged 10.0 points and 4.1 assists in 19.7 minutes per game in 77 games played. He can make plays on and off the ball and he is very athletic with some good length.
He’s made great strides in his progression as an NBA point guard and he’s beyond serviceable. Dennis has to see that in himself and wants to make a step in the next direction. He wants to come off the bench and start but unfortunately for him, there’s an All-Star point guard, Jeff Teague, standing in his way of achieving those goals.
This might for Dennis to look elsewhere for those starting minutes.
Schroder said that following via Bild (via Sport1), (as translated by E. Carchia of Sportando):
“My goal is to start as point guard” Schroder said. “If this doesn’t happen, I will look for other opportunities” added the German talent. “The Hawks are a great team, the city is nice and everything is perfect now. Teague? He was an All-Star and he helped me a lot. I must be patient and work hard and eventually I’ll have my opportunities” ended Schroder.
Teague and Schröder’s contracts both end in 2018 with Dennis being a restricted free agent and Jeff will be an unrestricted free agent.
Both players are young and still have a lot of their prime left so they both can be valuable assets in any potential deals but it would be hard to imagine the Hawks without Teague.
On the flipside, dropping Dennis could mean Atlanta could acquire a talent on the wing to upgrade their starting lineup after the loss of DeMarre Carroll.
With an expanding salary cap in the next few years, a player like Schröder becomes increasingly more interesting as a prospect. He’s currently on a cheap contract and a team looking for a legit, young starting NBA point guard, like the Brooklyn Nets, or possibly a future version of the Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls, could look to unload some wing talent to get Dennis as their starting point guard.
