After just over half a year, the Toronto Raptors chapter is already over for Dennis Schröder. The world champion and DBB captain is traded by the Canadians to the Brooklyn Nets
Dennis Schröder already knows the NBA business inside out. The 30-year-old is currently playing in his eleventh season in the best basketball league in the world. During this time, he has played for six different teams and has been traded three times. Now, shortly before the deadline on Thursday (9 p.m. German time), the fourth trade and the seventh employer of his career will be added.
As NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported on Thursday evening, Schröder is moving from the Toronto Raptors to the Brooklyn Nets together with Thaddeus Young with immediate effect. In return, the Canadians will receive Spencer Dinwiddie. Schröder confirmed the move to dpa shortly afterwards: “Yes, that’s right.” The Nets have “good players you can play with”. He hopes “that Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas aren’t too angry with me because of the World Cup”. The two US national team players lost to Germany in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Schröder only signed in Toronto in the summer of 2023. As the reigning world champion and MVP of the tournament, the national team captain initially went into the season as a starter. However, the Canadians’ season did not develop as desired, with a record of just 18 wins to 33 defeats and 12th place in the Eastern Conference, their hopes of making the play-offs and even the play-in tournament are slim.
That’s why the Raptors’ front office around team president Masai Ujiri initiated a roster shake-up a few weeks ago. Shortly before the turn of the year, Toronto traded O.G. Anunoby to the New York Knicks for R.J. Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round pick. Then, in mid-January, the last important piece of the puzzle of the 2019 championship team had to go in the person of Pascal Siakam (to the Indiana Pacers).
Schröder: Numbers just above the career average
Accordingly, Schröder’s future with the Raptors was also open; as a 30-year-old, he doesn’t play a role in the franchise’s long-term plans. “I know it’s a business here in the NBA,” Schröder told dpa back in mid-January when asked about the trade rumors. But he tried to take them as lightly as possible: “My salary won’t change, I might be in a different city, but I can bring my family to me, they’ll pay for all the traveling – that’s a luxury problem.”
At the start of the season, Schröder, who is still under contract until 2025 and earns just under 13 million dollars per season, impressed with solid performances. However, his production declined as the season progressed. At the end of December, he also lost his job as a starter at the point guard position, which Quickley has held since his trade to Toronto.
Over the entire season, Schröder has averaged 13.7 points and 6.1 assists on 44.2 percent shooting from the field, 35 percent from the three-point line and 85.2 percent from the free throw line. Apart from his scoring average, these figures are just above his career average (14 points, 4.8 assists, shooting splits: 43.4/33.7/83.7).
