The Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement with the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire guard Dennis Schroder for guard Danny Green and the 28th pick in Wednesday’s NBA draft, a person familiar with details of the trade told USA TODAY Sports.
The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly until the deal is official, which won’t be until after the draft.
In Schroder, the Lakers will get a quality guard who averaged 18.9 points and shot a career-best 46.9% from the field and 38.5% on 3-pointers in 2019-20. The veteran from Germany is headed into the final year of contract and will be paid $15.5 million.
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The deal is a strong indicator that the Lakers are intent on strengthening their roster and not running their title defense back with the same players. The expectation is that Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka will continue to look for roster improvements. This deal is also a possible sign that the Lakers will lose guard Rajon Rondo in free agency.
For the Thunder, general manager Sam Presti keeps compiling first-round picks. Oklahoma City has the 25th and 28th picks in this year’s draft and then nearly a dozen more first-round picks through the 2026 draft.
Trying to rebuild on the fly, the Thunder, who just named Mark Daigneault its head coach, could have three first-round picks in 2021, a first-rounder in 2022 and three first-rounders in 2024. Successful drafting and evaluation of young talent have been stellar hallmarks of Presti’s career.
