A sure-winning kill! The Lakers former player led the team to the championship, the most helpless star in the NBA, James also miscalculated
10:46am, 22 August 2025Basketball
Editor|Old Kankanqiu
NBA is experiencing a long offseason, and stars from all teams in the league have returned to their respective homelands to participate in the division championships. In the just-concluded Asian League, the Chinese men's basketball team once again stood on the final stage of the Asian Cup after 10 years. Unfortunately, they missed the winning goal and lost to Australia and won the runner-up. The European Championship is also in full swing. Compared with the Asian Cup, the stars are shining here, which has a strong sense of the NBA competitive stage. According to European media Eurohoops, the top 10 stars in the 2025 Men's Basketball European Championships - Jokic ranked first, Antetokounmpo ranked second, Doncic, Markanen, Wagner, Shenjing and other NBA superstars are all listed.
However, the European League is different from the NBA main game. Many NBA superstars do not play dominant here. Instead, some unknown small stars play like fish in water and dominant. For example, Schroder, who just scored 24 points and 10 assists and finally gave a quasi-winning final victory in 8.6 seconds, led the German team to narrowly defeat Spain 106-105 overtime, and the whole game was in full swing. That night, he was no longer the NBA homeless man who was ridiculed and rejected $84 million, but the savior of the German men's basketball team.
In this game, the German men's basketball team fought against the Spanish men's basketball team until the last 16 seconds of overtime. At this time, the German team was 104-105 and the ball naturally came to Schroeder's hands.
Faced with strict defense, Schroeder dribbled, broke through, and took action without hesitation - hit the board with high difficulty!
In the whole game, Schroeder scored 24 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds, proving his absolute core position in the international arena. This is not his only highlight performance this summer. In the warm-up match against Turkey on August 16, Schroeder made 7 of 9 shots, efficiently scored 22 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, leading the team to defeat the opponent and win.
Although he played well in the international arena, Schroeder seemed very helpless when he returned to the NBA stage. In 2021, after the Lakers played a perfect season in their career, according to multiple media reports, the Lakers management provided Schroder with a four-year, $84 million contract renewal to him in advance, but the latter refused. In the end, the two sides parted unhappily, and Schroeder had no choice but to go to the Boston Celtics and received a basic salary of $5.9 million in one year.
Many years later, Schroeder gave a different answer in an interview with the media. He firmly denied: "The Lakers have never provided me with such a contract, and I have never rejected this so-called renewal contract."
But no matter what the facts are, this farce about the "84 million US dollar contract" also directly reduced Schroeder from a player with an annual salary of tens of millions to a basic salary player. At the same time, it directly disrupted James' plan. He originally wanted the peak defender to stay in the Lakers team and continue to help him compete for the NBA championship, but he miscalculated. He eventually went home and bid farewell to Los Angeles completely. The Lakers also stopped in the first round for several consecutive seasons and missed the championship.
Obviously, this is a lose-lose situation.
Since his career, Schroeder has played for as many as 11 teams including Hawks, Thunder, Lakers, Celtics, Rockets, Raptors, Nets, Warriors, Jazz (not played), Pistons and Kings. His NBA career can be regarded as a "basketball wandering history". In July this year, Schroeder reached a two-year $28 million contract with the Kings, the 11th team he played for in the past nine seasons.
Previously, Schroeder once again played star-level data with the Nets, but was unexpectedly traded to the Warriors. He performed a disaster due to lineup and running-in issues. After leaving the offseason, he said: "Even if you have a contract, everyone can still decide whether you stay or not." These words expressed their helplessness and were a true portrayal of his career.
However, in sharp contrast to the NBA's wandering uncertainty, Schroeder found a true sense of belonging and leadership in the international arena.
"The only goal of this year's European Championship is to win the championship. Without this belief, I would not come to participate," Schroeder said in an interview with reporters. Obviously, this confidence comes from his outstanding performance in international competitions in recent years. In the 2022 European Championships, he led the German team to the third place and was selected for the best team in the tournament. It was this performance that made him regain the favor of NBA teams.
From the most helpless homeless man in the NBA who has changed to 11 teams in the past nine years to the story of Schroder, the leader of the team who is determined to win the championship in the European Championships, is far from over.
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