Hawks have decision to make with Dennis Schröder

Dennis Schröder won’t play with Germany at this summer’s Eurobasket qualifier and instead will focus on preparing himself for his first season as the starting point guard for the Atlanta Hawks. Schröder has another incentive to skipping on international play this summer and that is a potential contract extension with Atlanta.

When the Hawks traded Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers earlier this summer they seemingly chose Schröder as their point guard of the future. However, they now must decide whether or not to give him an extension now or wait until after the season when he enters restricted free agency. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported at the time of Teague’s trade that the Hawks were planning to negotiate a rookie extension with Schröder later this summer.

SB Nation’s Tom Ziller took a look at the extension candidates from the 2013 Draft class and listed Schröder as a player who is likely to receive a big pay day at some point but that it remains to be seen whether the two sides can come together on an extension.

The Hawks already committed to Schroder by trading Jeff Teague and elevating the German point guard to de facto starter status. Now we see whether Atlanta commits financially this summer as well, or waits to see how the team performs before inking up. Schroder will be 23 this season, he has a lot still to prove and might be willing to bet on himself if the Hawks don’t come in with a big early offer.

Atlanta does have the ability to issue Schröder a qualifying offer next offseason thus making him a restricted free agent giving them the right of first refusal however, it still makes for an interesting decision. Extend him now and forfeit some of their salary flexibility next offseason or wait and risk having to pay a more premium price to retain him?

The Philadelphia 76ers were rumored to be very interested in Schröder at last season’s trade deadline and will be in position to make him an offer that is substantial and maybe even at the max level.

However, if you are the Hawks, you may be better served to see how Schröder performs in his first season as the starter. Defensively he looks like an upgrade over Teague but still needs to prove that he can make enough jump shots to force opposing defenders to respect him from the outside.

There also has been a question on Schröder’s maturity. He is fearless almost to a fault but Atlanta needs him to remain focused and show that he can lead a team

The Hawks have from now until October 31 to reach an extension with Schröder.