Dennis Schröder Talks Free Agency, Joining the Raptors, Being a Mentor, & Starting for Toronto

Dennis Schroder said he signed with the Toronto Raptors because of new head coach Darko Rajaković and discusses his goal for the organization next season

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Timelines in free agency can always be a little murky because, believe it or not, teams occasionally break the tampering rules and memories are fallible.

What’s clear, though, is the Toronto Raptors wanted Fred VanVleet back for next season. By all accounts, Toronto met with VanVleet when free agency officially opened at 6 p.m. ET on June 30. At that point, it was becoming clear that an offer from the Houston Rockets was going to be tough to stave off.

At 8:43 p.m. ET, ESPN broke the news that VanVleet was leaving Toronto. Within an hour, the Raptors had pivoted, signing Dennis Schröder to a two-year, $26 million deal with the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, as ESPN reported.

Schröder’s story of the events is somewhat different, but the points are mostly the same.

Once VanVleet signed with Houston, Schröder said he got a call on the second day of free agency from new Raptors Darko Rajaković who laid out the plan for Schröder should he elect to join Toronto. The Los Angeles Lakers had been interested in re-signing Schröder, the 29-year-old point guard said, though they pivoted and inked Gabe Vincent to a similar contract prior to Schröder joining the Raptors

“I know how he operates,” Schröder said of Rajaković during his introductory press conference Wednesday via Zoom. “He's a great guy. European. … He told me what his plans are and what he’s trying to accomplish. That was perfect for me and for my family.”

Schröder joins the Raptors with the expectation that he’ll be the starting point guard for the team next season. While he’s willing to accept whatever role he’s given, he and Rajaković have already discussed using him in the starting lineup and he said that’s his goal, “to lead the team.”

He’ll have big shoes to fill following VanVleet’s departure. While Toronto’s former point guard didn’t quite have a career year, he still averaged nearly 20 points as a high-volume three-point shooter with a career-high 7.2 assists per game. Schröder, conversely, sat at 12.6 points and 4.5 assists per game with a 32.9% three-point stroke as a low-volume shooter.

But Schröder is here to lead and mentor Toronto’s young crop of players, skills VanVleet was known for but couldn’t quite show last season due to a disconnect within the Raptors locker room.

“On the court, I never ask anybody for things (that) I wouldn't do and I think I compete on the highest level every game,” Schröder said of his leadership style. “I treat it like it's my last game that I have and try to lead by example, practice days be there early, I mean, and just show the young guys (how) to be a professional.”

Off the court, Schröder is probably more similar to Toronto’s younger players than VanVleet. He’s a content creator on YouTube and likes to hang out with his teammates, he said. He’ll dabble in Top Golf and wants to meet more of his teammates, having only spoken to O.G. Anunoby and Chris Boucher in Las Vegas so far.

“Just try to find the chemistry because chemistry, at the end of the day, is the most important and having fun with everything,” he said.

The hope for Toronto is that a new coach and new point guard can change the feeling around the team. Both VanVleet and former head coach Nick Nurse were extremely successful at their jobs. The former was an NBA All-Star and now a max contract player while the latter has an NBA Coach of the Year award to his name. But their voices, it seems, grew stale within the team.

“It wasn’t a great fit. For whatever reason the chemistry didn’t click,” VanVleet admitted on a recent episode of The Pivot.

Schröder isn’t going to be as good as VanVleet on the court next season. But his connection with Rajaković and his decade of experience in the NBA should help bridge the gap between the coaching staff and the younger players and, ideally, help in the development of Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr., and Toronto’s young core.

“For me, it's just helping the young guys, helping my teammates,” Schröder said. “I had a lot of great veterans with Al Horford, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, DeMarre Carroll, Lou Williams, a lot of people who took care of me and I tried to do the same thing for my team, be there for Darko on the court, but off the court as well.”

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