Dennis Schroder sends warning to rest of NBA after Lakers beat Jazz

As the Lakers took down the Jazz on Saturday night, Dennis Schroder looked forward at what’s to come when they’re at full strength.

The Lakers won thanks to outstanding 20-point efforts from the trio of Schroder, Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Jazz, for the record, were also shorthanded without their leading scorer Donovan Mitchell, who suffered a lower leg injury on Friday afternoon.

Still, Utah sits atop of the West standings for a reason, and even without Mitchell at the helm, are formidable to say the least. Los Angeles defeating them by a rather sound 12-point win sends a message across the league. Schroder knows this all too well.

“When AD and LeBron come back it’s going to be really scary,” Schroder said, per Spectrum Sportsnet.

Lakers should return to full strength soon

Anthony Davis is already on his way back, and was cleared for basketball activities fairly recently. James is a bit further off, but is expected to be ready to come back before the NBA postseason. When healthy, the Lakers are undoubtedly the best team in the Western Conference — or at least the most accomplished.

It’s been tough sledding for LA without their two stars, but their only job was primarily to stay afloat. At fifth in the West, they’ve slid further down the standings than Frank Vogel would’ve liked, but there’s not a lot of competition that should scare LA in the conference.

The presence of Utah, Phoenix, Denver and the Clippers above them in the standings would worry some teams, but the majority of those squads lack the prerequisite playoff experience. Of course, anything can happen from playoff time, but Schroder’s Lakers have been through this once before. The end result is typically a LeBron James-led team in the Finals.