The Los Angeles Lakers may not be championship contenders, but there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful about them this season based on what has transpired in the preseason so far.
However, one key member of the team, Dennis Schroder, hasn’t gotten on the court yet due to visa issues after participating in EuroBasket 2022 in his native Germany.
But Schroder has arrived in the States, and he has begun the process of getting assimilated with the Lakers.
They signed him to a veteran minimum contract a few weeks ago, presumably to give themselves a true distributing, table-setting guard other than Russell Westbrook.
Dennis Schroder is in Los Angeles and will undergo a team physical this weekend and will be able to fully integrate himself with the Lakers starting Monday after their trip to GSW, per coach Darvin Ham
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 8, 2022
If all goes according to plan, Schroder could play in L.A.’s final two exhibition contests this week.
In addition to Schroder, the team has a logjam of small guards: Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers find playing time for the German native.
If nothing else, he will give it a solid contingency plan should Westbrook get traded in the coming weeks or months.