Raptors’ Dennis Schroder interest shows lack of trust in PGs

The Toronto Raptors have not made any significant point guard additions this offseason despite names like Dennis Schroder remaining in the free agent miasma for most of the last few months. With Fred VanVleet fresh off being severely overworked, that comes as a bit of a surprise.

The Raptors appear to be moving on with Dalano Banton and Malachi Flynn as the top options behind VanVleet. With the roster jam-packed ahead of the start of Toronto’s preseason campaign, the opportunities to replace one of that duo are starting to run thin.

The Raptors missed out on a chance to add Schroder to the mix, as he parlayed a strong Eurobasket campaign into a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. While LA and the mighty Suns were interested in signing him, the German guard reportedly turned down advances from the Raptors.

The fact that Toronto was mentioned as one of Schroder’s top landing spots shows that not only is Ujiri looking for more veteran free agents, but that he specifically has an issue with the team’s point guard depth. That’s not the best endorsement of Banton or Flynn.

Will the Toronto Raptors add another point guard?

You know the story by now. Flynn has all the talent in the world, but he has yet to make things gel in the NBA for longer than a one-month period. Banton has the defensive chops to star for Nick Nurse, but we’ll need to see major offensive improvement from the Canadian sensation.

The Raptors have all of their training camp spots filled up right now, but it seems like Masai Ujiri wants to pull off one more big move before the preseason. With rumors that Reggie Perry could be brought back on an Exhibit 10 contract after a space is cleared and the Schroder rumblings, one more move could be in the works.

At this point, the Raptors have reason to doubt both Banton and Flynn. If anything, using Pascal Siakam or Scottie Barnes as a point forward proved to be more effective than either one of those youngsters. If Flynn performs like he did in the pro-am games and Banton replicates his AmeriCup performance, the Schroder hype could die down.

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Schroder may not have been the best defender in the world, but he has proven time and time again that he can very easily average double digits in points per game in this league. That microwave scoring off the bench could’ve been more beneficial to Toronto than Banton’s defense or Flynn’s ball-handling.