Careers in professional basketball can appear massively different depending on if a player stars in the NBA or anywhere else in the world, but all roads tend to lead back to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
For the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>‘ 40-year-old forward LeBron James, he knows that his spot in the Hall has been locked down for a long while, but the legendary wing made a case for an unsuspecting candidate during a recent episode<\/a> of his\u00a0Mind the Game\u00a0podcast with co-host Steve Nash.<\/p>\n While discussing James’ teammate Luka Don\u010di\u0107’s run in EuroBasket this past summer for Slovenia, Nash suggested that German basketball star and 12-year NBA journeyman Dennis Schr\u00f6der has a case to receive a “Naismith Orange” jacket in the future.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the 21-time All-Star concurred.<\/p>\n “Yeah, I mean, I’ve seen a lot of the stats as well and a lot of the accomplishments this summer after EuroBasket,” the incoming 23-year pro shared Wednesday.<\/p>\n “If (Schr\u00f6der is elected), I wouldn’t be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so proud!”<\/p>\n “No. He’s put in the work, man.”<\/p>\n Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp<\/a><\/p>\n “The international game is a big part of our game in the whole grand scheme of things.”<\/p>\n After the 32-year-old point guard led Germany to the EuroBasket championship with an 88-83 Final victory over Turkey, Schr\u00f6der began to create dialogue around his status as one of the greatest international basketball players ever.<\/p>\n Schr\u00f6der, who joined James on the Lakers for two different stints in the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, nabbed a FIBA World Cup MVP win in 2023 and EuroBasket MVP honors for his stellar performance in 2025.<\/p>\n Aside from his decorated international playing career, Schr\u00f6der has also established himself as one of the NBA’s most reliable reserve guards of his generation, as evidenced by a second-place finish for Sixth Man of the Year honors as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in 2019-20.<\/p>\n The shifty, undersized scoring guard has averaged career figures of 13.9 points and 4.9 assists on a 48.5% effective field goal percentage, and he’ll aim to produce at a consistent rate for the Sacramento Kings<\/a> in 2025-26 as one of their top free agent signings.<\/p>\n