Dennis Schroder off to career-best start with Nets future uncertain

At some point while playing the Grizzlies, Dennis Schroder told Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez to put the ball in his hands. 

Fernandez replied, “OK, I got you,” according to Schroder, and the trust paid off for the Nets in a 119-106 road victory. Schroder scored 33 points, his high as a Net, to go with eight assists. 

He scored 11 of those points in the fourth quarter to propel the Nets. 

It was yet another hot night for the veteran point guard, who is off to a stunning career-best season start. 

“Yeah, I told him that I want to win the game,” Schroder said about the interaction Wednesday night. “So, it’s working right now that we’re pushing the ball and I’m getting into the paint and I make the decision from there. And I told him to give me the ball, and he said, ‘OK, I got you.’ And gladly, we won the game, too.” 

Schroder, who is in his 12th year in the NBA, is averaging a career-best 24.6 points across the first five games of the season to rank No. 19 in the league.

He is shooting 54 percent from the field and 55 percent from beyond the 3-point line. 

He is averaging more points than while playing for Germany in the Paris Olympic this summer (19.7) over three games, and more than his two seasons playing for that country in FIBA in 2019 (19.6) and 2023 (19.7). 

His NBA career average is 14.4 points. 

The 31-year-old Braunschweig, Germany, native also has a career high 8.2 assists per game, good for fifth in the league. 

While Schroder is playing on an expiring $13 million contract and is potentially in danger of being used for a move at the trade deadline, his current level of play certainly doesn’t put that into the Nets’ minds. 

“At one point, [Schroder] said, ‘Just give me the ball. I’ll take care of this,’ ” Fernandez said after the victory. “And that’s what he does. He’s a leader. He puts everybody in place. If he has to score, he scores, and he finished the game. So it’s really, really, really good to have him on the court.” 

Prior to this season, the best five-game start of Schroder’s NBA career came in the 2017-18 season with the Hawks, when he averaged 22.2 points over the opening five games.

He went on to average a career-high 19.4 points that season. 

Maintaining 24.6 points per game likely is not sustainable, given Schroeder’s career, but he is on a pace that could see him land near a career high come April. 

Schroder was acquired from the Raptors last season at the trade deadline in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie. 

The Nets added him with the hope that he would pair well with Ben Simmons and help the team compete for a play-in spot.

He has since stabilized the Nets point guard position, which was a spot of uncertainty in the offseason with Simmons’ health always a question mark and no young players to fit the bill. 

The veteran has also taken on a leadership role with the squad, which would be hard to eliminate midseason at the deadline. 

If the Nets eventually decide to trade Schroder, the good in return must outweigh the bad of not having a suitable player to replace him at the position. Without a stable point guard, the Nets will obviously have a harder time not only winning games but also developing young players. 

“He’s a winner. … He’s does everything just to win, causes havoc on offense and defensive side,” Ziaire Williams said Wednesday. “I mean, he’s playing amazing right now, shooting the ball at a high clip and, you know, making high-level plays, assists, yeah, just being our leader. So, you know, definitely glad to have him as my PG, and playing against him for three years, I always hated it, and we’re definitely happy to be on his side.” 

With his expiring deal looming, Schroder has admitted he would like to stay with the Nets “long term” and help them find an identity during this rebuilding season for the draft possibilities come May. 

The Nets may have up to $65 million in cap space during the 2025 offseason.