Los Angeles Lakers' Dennis Schroder to miss extended period of games for health and safety protocols
Los Angeles Lakers guard Dennis Schroderwill miss 10-14 days because of the league's health and safety protocols, coach Frank Vogel confirmed Monday.
The veteran point guard sat out L.A.'s 121-114 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday because of the protocols. It was the second COVID-19-related absence for Schroder. He missed four games in February because of exposure found by contact tracing.
It's unknown if Schroder has received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Lakers had several meetings about the vaccine -- first in December and then a few days before the organization arranged for the team to receive the first shot on April 16 -- and team members were encouraged to receive it.
"We definitely pointed out to our whole team the benefits of as many guys getting vaccinated as possible. And how there's competitive advantages to it. There's just, for lack of a better word, lifestyle advantages of doing it," Vogel said. "We can do more team-oriented stuff if we reach 85% [vaccination rate]. All those types of things. Less testing. All those things were laid out very clearly for our guys and we showed all of them the benefits.
"But at the end of the day, like I said, it's their own personal choice and we respect that."
The Lakers have eight games remaining on their regular-season schedule and host the Denver Nuggets on Monday in the second leg of a back-to-back. L.A. is currently the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference but has the same record as the Portland Trail Blazers (36-28), who are No. 7, making it a real possibility the defending champions could begin their repeat title bid by participating in the play-in tournament.
LeBron James alluded to Schroder's absence during his postgame remarks following the loss to the Raptors.
"I think our team is predicated on health," James said. "That is the No. 1 thing for our ballclub. We're a team that we need to be healthy and we need to be full. And if it's not one thing, it's the other. And then we show up today and the starting point guard is not in the lineup. So it's like another blow for us.
"That's going to be the biggest thing for us down the stretch, more than the games that we're playing. Just how healthy we're going to be going into the stretch run."
The Lakers started Alex Caruso in Schroder's place against the Raptors.
Schroder, who will be a free agent this summer, has averaged 15.5 points, 5.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds this season, his first as a Laker.
