BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MARCH 8: Dennis Schroder # 17 of the Oklahoma City Thunder brings the ball … [+]
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While most of the Oklahoma City Thunder news in the past few days in Orlando was about Andre Roberson and if he could play, Dennis Schroder shared some news today that could affect the team significantly.
During media availability on Tuesday, Schroder was asked about the sacrifices he is making to leave his wife and son behind. After touching on this, he said that his wife is actually pregnant with their second child and is expected in three to four weeks. This would mean that Schroder’s son would have been born sometime during the last eight games of the Thunder regular season in the first two weeks of August.
Schroder was then asked if he would leave the bubble to be with his wife and new born baby. He said he would try to fix something with the team so that he could be with her during this time.
“I will not leave my wife alone while she is about to have her second child … I will certainly go there and support her”
This is admirable by Schroder. At just 26, she has her own straight priorities and understands the importance of the family. He will later talk about how his family is his number one priority.
“Family comes first.”
While this may be news that Thunder fans don’t want to hear, Schroder should be supported during this time if he actually chooses to leave the team for a period of time during the baby’s birth. There are so many variables in this situation that it is difficult to determine how long Schroder would be away from the team.
If he travels abroad for this, the protocol to re-enter the bubble could make him lose several playoff games. Furthermore, Schroder did not confirm that he would actually return to play after the baby was born. This is a situation very similar to Gordon Hayward and Vincent Poirier of the Boston Celtics who recently announced that he could also leave the bubble for the birth of his son.
If Schroder spends time away from the team, surely we will miss him. He was perhaps the best sixth man in the entire NBA this season. He averaged 19.0 points, 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game this season for Thunder. Schroder also leads all the NBA bench markers with 1178 total points and is third in assists with 250.
Especially during a global pandemic, NBA players who are planning to leave the bubble for big life events like this shouldn’t be surprising. In fact, we should all expect more news like this, as things happen outside the bubble and directly affect the players. We must all remember that there is much more to life than basketball and support players like Schroder if decisions like this are made.
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