Hawks, Dennis Schroder Ink Four-Year, $70 Million Extension

The Atlanta Hawks and point guard Dennis Schroder have agreed to a four-year, $70 million extension, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein and Zach Lowe.

The two sides had until Oct. 31 to reach an extension, otherwise Schroder would’ve become a restricted free agency in July once the Hawks extended a qualifying offer.

Schroder joins Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum (four years, $106.6 million) and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (four years, $100 million) as the only players from the 2013 NBA Draft class who have inked extensions thus far. Between now and the Oct. 31 deadline, expect several other extensions to be announced. Oftentimes, these neogiations go down to the wire.

Atlanta went all-in on Schroder this offseason when they decided to trade former All-Star point guard Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for the No. 12 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft (which they used to select Taurean Prince).

Now, Schroder enters his fourth NBA season as a full-time starter for the first time in his career.

Schroder was the first player selected after Mike Budenholzer was hired as head coach. Ever since, Budenholzer has been extremely high on Schroder and it makes sense that the Hawks would want to lock up their floor general of the future before what could be a breakout campaign for the

Over the course of his career, Schroder has averaged 17.4 points, 7.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds per-36-minutes. Last season, the 23-year-old averaged 11 points, 4.4 assists, 2.6 rebounds and .9 steals in 20.3 minutes per game. In the postseason, his scoring average increased to 11.7 points per game despite getting less playing time (19.1 minutes per game).

During the 2015-16 regular season, Schroder shot 42.1 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from three-point range and 79.1 percent from the free throw line. In the postseason, he shot 45.2 percent from the field, 34.3 percent from three and 84.6 percent from the free throw line.

The Hawks’ veteran players are excited to see what Schroder can do with his increased role, but they understand that there will be growing pains and that they’ll have to help him adjust.

“Dennis has an incredible talent,” veteran forward Thabo Sefolosha told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month. “He’s going to be great. He’s going to be the point guard. It’s going to be tough. I think we are all going to help him. I think it’s a tough position to be so young and to have so much on your shoulders. I think it’s going to be on all of us to help him.”

Last season, the Hawks were the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference after finishing the campaign with a 48-34 record. For a complete list of players who are eligible to sign an extension prior to the Oct. 31 deadline, click here.