Lakers Rumors: Latest on Dennis Schroder Contract, Marc Gasol

The NBA is tacking on $500,000 to Dennis Schroder's salary for the 2020-21 season.

The 27-year-old is in the final year of a four-year, $70 million contract he signed with the Atlanta Hawks prior to the 2017-18 campaign. The deal is laden with incentives, and a move to Los Angeles has apparently led to a team incentive kicking in.

Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports reported the NBA ruled Schroder's contract incentives regarding his team winning a championship will count as a "likely" bonus for the 2020-21 season, seeing as the Lakers won the title last year. The ruling means his salary is now $16 million instead of $15.5 million, though Smith noted bonuses count against the hard cap, anyway.

Regardless, Schroder probably will not be complaining.

The Lakers acquired the German from the Oklahoma City Thunder to kick-start their offseason. He was a vital part of OKC's success last year, averaging 18.9 points, 4.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds during the regular season while also shooting a career-high 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.

While those numbers are certainly appetizing, Schroder means even more to the Lakers in terms of the skills he brings. He can be a secondary ball-handler and another shot creator who can get into the lane and finishing at the rim. He also provides floor-spacing, though his three-point percentage dropped 10 points in the playoffs.

Los Angeles desperately needed someone of his makeup in the backcourt. Rajon Rondo gave L.A. playmaking in the playoffs, but he is not the same caliber of finisher at the rim, and Schroder is more capable of creating his own offense.

The Lakers felt the best route to repeating their title triumph was adding more offense around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The addition of Schroder should make L.A. more diverse on that end of the floor.

But while the added salary is a nice comeuppance, Schroder would undoubtedly prefer to win the first NBA championship of his career.

Execs Evaluate Marc Gasol Signing   

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The Lakers not only made a marquee addition in the backcourt, but they also totally changed the frontcourt.

Los Angeles signed Montrezl Harrell away from the crosstown rival Clippers, but Dwight Howard's decision to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers forced the Lakers to pivot.

General manager Rob Pelinka moved to sign Marc Gasol, dealing JaVale McGee to make cap space for the former All-Star. Suddenly, the Lakers went from a pair of shot-blocking, defensive-minded players to a pair of bigs perhaps more suited to helping the team defensively.

Personnel from around the league weighed in on how Gasol will make his presence felt. One Eastern Conference scout told ESPN's Tim Bontemps that while the Spaniard is not as athletic as Howard or McGee, he is "better at everything else."

A front-office executive told Sam Amick of The Athletic something similar, saying he felt L.A. would not be "as physical and tough or as good defensively," but adding the Lakers would be better defensively.

Indeed, Gasol offers the Lakers more in terms of his abilities on the offensive end. He can pick-and-pop, having shot 38.5 percent from deep on 3.4 attempts per game last season. He is also one of the best passing bigs in the game, averaging 3.4 assists for his career and tallying 3.3 dimes per game last year.

But the 35-year-old is hardly a slouch on the defensive end. In fact, he ranked third in defensive rating (min. 15 MPG and 40 GP), per NBA.com.

Gasol is not the kind of rotating shot-blocker Howard or McGee are, but he is exceptionally tough on the low block. That matters, especially in the event the Lakers run into Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs once again.

The Lakers will have to figure out how best to deploy the undersized, rim-running Harrell, who could challenge the team's spacing and is less polished as an individual defender.

Gasol fits the roster like a glove, though, and he gives L.A. more of a diverse feel offensively.

All stats obtained via Basketball Reference, unless otherwise noted.