Dennis Schröder's one team away from tying an NBA record that nobody wants.

When he checks into his first game for Charlotte, Schröder will have played for 12 different franchises. One more would pull him even with Ish Smith, who holds the league record with 13 teams.

There’s no trophy for changing teams that often, but it still says something about Schröder’s career. Twelve different front offices decided he was worth bringing in, whether they needed a starter, a backup point guard, or a veteran who could steady things for a while.

Charlotte Makes It Twelve

The Cavaliers sent Schröder and cash to Charlotte for Tre Mann, clearing some salary and giving themselves more room for their offseason moves. Charlotte gets a veteran point guard who already knows Hornets president Jeff Peterson and head coach Charles Lee from their time together in Atlanta.

Schröder's played 912 games and averaged 13.7 points and 4.9 assists over his 13 seasons. He’s scored in double figures every year except his rookie season.

Those aren’t the numbers of a guy who’s barely hanging onto an NBA job.

Schröder can run a second unit and score enough to keep a team afloat when the starters aren’t doing much. For most of his career, he’s lived somewhere between high-end backup and temporary starter. That’s a pretty useful role, at least until a team decides they need more shooting or a point guard who doesn’t need the ball as much.

And that’s where things usually get tricky.

Schröder's good enough to fix a problem right away. But he’s also a career 34.1% three-point shooter who does his best work running pick-and-rolls and pushing the pace. Teams bring him in for those exact reasons, then eventually the roster around him changes and they decide they need something different.

He already knows why Charlotte might be a better fit. After spending last season next to Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, Schröder called the Hornets a “better situation” from a basketball perspective because he expects to play more like himself again.

One Contract Changed The Entire Journey

Schröder’s career didn’t always look like a revolving door.

Atlanta drafted him 17th overall in 2013 and kept him around for five seasons. He eventually took over as the starting point guard and averaged a career-high 19.4 points in 2017-18. Then the Hawks traded him to Oklahoma City as part of their rebuild.

That move brought out one of the best versions of Schröder.

He averaged 18.9 points off the bench for the Thunder, posted career highs in both field-goal and three-point percentage, and finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting. The Lakers liked what they saw and traded Danny Green and a first-round pick for him as they tried to defend their championship.

Then came the contract decision that’s followed him ever since.

The Lakers reportedly offered Schröder a four-year, $84 million extension during the 2020-21 season. Schröder later said there was never a formal contract to reject, but whatever happened behind the scenes, his market dried up that summer. He ended up signing a one-year, $5.9 million deal with Boston.

He was traded to Houston just a few months later.

Schröder eventually rebuilt his value. He went back to the Lakers on a minimum deal, helped them get to the Western Conference Finals, and turned that season into a two-year, $26 million contract with Toronto.

The stability still didn’t last. Toronto traded him to Brooklyn. Schröder was averaging 18.4 points and a career-high 6.6 assists when Golden State gave Brooklyn three second-round picks for him. Twenty-four games later, he was sent to Detroit as part of the Jimmy Butler trade.

Schröder then scored 20 points and hit the late three that helped the Pistons end an NBA-record 15-game playoff losing streak.

Even that wasn’t enough to keep him in one place. Detroit sent him to Sacramento in a sign-and-trade. The Kings gave him three years and $44.4 million but ended up trading him to Cleveland seven months later. Cleveland moved him againbefore he’d even finished his first full season there.

Germany Gets A Completely Different Schröder

The strangest part of Schröder’s career is that nobody seems to question who he is as a player once he leaves the NBA.

Germany lets him run the show and treats him like the face of the program. He helped deliver the country’s first World Cup championship in 2023 and won tournament MVP. Two years later, he averaged 20.3 points and 7.2 assists, leading Germany to their first EuroBasket title since 1993 — snagging another MVP award along the way.

The NBA hasn’t really given him that kind of freedom. Teams ask him to fill whatever role they need and keep things moving. Then, once the roster changes, he’s usually the guy who gets moved.

That doesn’t mean he’s failing. It means he’s useful in a league where “useful” can sometimes make you easier to trade.

Ish Smith went through seven trades and six releases before reaching his record-setting 13th team. He also stuck around long enough to win a championship with Denver, which is a pretty good reminder that being a journeyman doesn’t have to be an insult.

Nobody grows up dreaming about this kind of history. But 12 franchises have looked at Dennis Schröder and decided they wanted him around.

That’s not nothing.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com.

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