Los Angeles Lakers point guard Dennis Schröder may have revealed that he and LeBron James are the only two members of their team to not receive a COVID-19 vaccination.

Quotes from a panel Schröder conducted with N-TV at the end of April recirculated on social media on Monday, one day after Schröder was placed into the league's health and safety protocols.

Schröder revealed that he doesn't like painkillers, and is skeptical about a vaccination. In doing so, he possibly outed his Lakers teammate.

“Vaccinating is a difficult thing for me,” he said (translated from German). “I think LeBron James is not vaccinated and I…I am someone who does not like to take painkillers. I always try without them to get along with whole things.”

“Quarantine? I can not do that again,” he added. “If that happened now, I would skip a series completely. I couldn’t deal with that myself.”

After uttering those words, Schröder is expected to re-enter quarantine and miss 10-14 days, leaving the Lakers shorthanded once again.

To be fair: there is some absence of context here, so let's see if Schröder clarifies or addresses these quotes at any point.

James raised eyebrows at All-Star weekend when he declined to say whether he would be vaccinated.

“That's a conversation that my family and I will have,” he responded. “Keep that to a private thing.”
One of Schröder and James' teammates, Marc Gasol, detailed the debilitating bout with COVID-19 he and members of his household suffered through in March.

Last week, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said LA, as an organization, had not yet reached the 85% threshold that would allow them to ease certain restrictions.

“Well I can say we’re not at the 85% but I don’t really want to comment any further on what percent of our guys have been vaccinated,” Vogel told the media.

Montrezl Harrell was amped to get his COVID shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi_XnCDddgU

Earlier this season, Schröder missed four games due to health and safety protocols and was forced to quarantine for several days.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
lebron james lakers jarred vanderbilt

Michael Corvo ·

LeBron James (Lakers) as a guy voting

Rexwell Villas ·

NBA Legend Shaquille O'Neal looked back at his breif stint with LeBron James & the Cavaliers and wishes he'd arrived two years sooner.

Randall Barnes ·

“The NBA I think got to do better,” Schroder said in late February. “…It was just hard for me to be in the house, in my guest house…be there by myself, playing video games, work out. It sucked. But now I'm finally back, and we don’t want it to happen again.”

Alas.

The reeling Lakers (36-28) have dropped six of seven games. They're hoping to develop chemistry and avoid the play-in tournament while navigating a brutal upcoming schedule. At the worst possible time, they're now down a point guard.

In the N-TV panel, Schröder also reiterated his praise for the Lakers organization and his desire to stay at a “fair” price, after testing out unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career.

“Of course it's about the money, I want to be paid fairly,” he said. ‘But the point is that after eight years in the NBA I can decide for myself where to go. I want to feel that … I am not missing anything here, they do everything for me and my family. Of course, I'm with one of the best teams, and of course I want to sign with them too.”

We'll see how well these latest developments go over behind closed doors.