Lakers’ Perimeter Shooting Would Increase Drastically

The Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup in the playoffs last season was mainly LeBron James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard. Combined, this lineup shot about 28.6% from three-point range as a starting five. By taking Danny Green and Dwight Howard out of the equation and inserting Dennis Schroder and Marc Gasol, the Lakers’ three-point shooting from their starting lineup would project to increase by about 8% to 36.66% from beyond the arc. 

This is a massive increase in three-point shooting with the additions of Dennis Schroder and Marc Gasol into the starting lineup. In fact, this would be the Lakers best statistical perimeter shooting lineup they could put on the court based on shooting stats from the 2019-20 season. 

Starting Dennis Schroder at the point guard position does not mean that LeBron James will take a step back and not have the ball in his hands. LeBron will still be the primary ball-handler for the Lakers, but instead of Schroder being a true point guard, he would mostly play off-the-ball, something he did very well with Chris Paul last season. With the Thunder last year, Schroder came off the bench and played a lot of a two-guard lineup with Chris Paul as the primary ball-handler.

With the Lakers, Schroder would be put in a similar position with LeBron James as the primary ball-handler instead of Chris Paul. Not only is James a better passer and playmaker overall than Chris Paul, but he will open up the court a lot more for Dennis Schroder to be able and knock down perimeter shots, as well as find open lanes to the rim. 

Not to mention, Dennis Schroder is a great facilitator in his own right so not only do the Lakers get his shooting in their starting lineup, but they would have two point guards on the floor who can make plays for everyone else, such as that big guy down low who is pretty good in Anthony Davis.