NEW ORLEANS — Dennis Schroder is playing the best basketball of his life. Good enough that he might end up playing his way right off the Nets.
Despite the Nets being committed to a rebuild, they’ve ridden their veterans to a better-than-expected start — with Schroder the leader among them. But his career year isn’t just worrying fans actually looking forward to the Nets tanking.
It’s drawing interest from teams around the league for a potential trade.
“I’ve been in the league 12 years, and people have talked about my name in trade talks for 12 years. [And] I’ve been traded twice,” Schroder told The Post before his Nets played at the Pelicans on Monday night. “… So [gossip] is going to happen. They use it as an event where they can promote who is on the block. I don’t really care.
“But I’ve bought into this system right now because they pay my checks, and I’m doing my job every single day, and I’m always professional about it, always going to make the most out of it. Get 1 percent better every single day. And whatever happens, happens. I understand it’s a business, but no worries here.”
Schroder, who had 14 points in the Nets’ 107-105 win over the Pelicans on Monday, has actually been traded four times, the first instance, from Atlanta to Oklahoma City, he actually wanted. And at 31 and on a team-friendly $13 million expiring deal, he’s going to elicit interest from contenders around the league.
But Schroder’s point is well-taken.
He has the most NBA experience on the roster, and over that time he’s learned to control what he can. And even though Schroder couldn’t control the Nets embarking on a rebuild, he can control how he handles it.
But don’t think for a second he’s about tanking.
“For me, rebuilding, I’ve seen a stat the last 15 years whoever did the rebuilding stuff and wanted to lose, nobody got anything out of it,” Schroder said. “At the end of the day, we can rebuild having young guys, second, first, third-year guys. But we still want to win in the process, going through it. We still want to win and still want to be a playoff team if we can.
“That should be the goal for everybody who’s playing in the league or whoever plays basketball, making the playoffs. And even though we’re young, we’ve got a good mix. … The young guys are buying into it when they get in there doing the same thing we [veterans are] doing to start off the game. And it’s something great we want to accomplish that we compete every single game and opponent. If we keep doing that, we’re going to be a great team this year.”
Schroder arrived in New Orleans averaging 20.1 points, 6.6 assists and 1.5 steals with .486/.463/.875 shooting splits.
All figures were on pace for career highs.
But it’s on the defensive end where Schroder has made coach Jordi Fernandez’s full-court press work.
He entered Monday tied for third in the NBA in loose balls recovered (11) and 24th in steals.
“That’s how I got my minutes in the first place in the league,” Schroder told The Post. “I started off being effective on the defensive end, just tried to impact the game defensively because I wasn’t really a threat on offense.
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“When I got to the league, I got my minutes on defense picking up 94 feet, affecting the game that way. Then over the years, I started to get to the basket, to the line, midrange, 3s the last couple years. But yeah, defensively, I like this style of play because that’s what I’ve been doing my whole life. That’s the reason why I say it’s a style of play I’m really familiar with, and it’s easy for me.”
For as long as he’s in it.
Ben Simmons had a season-high 12 assists, including 10 with no turnovers in the first half. He joined Domantas Sabonis (Nov. 6 vs. Toronto) as the only players with a turnover-free, double-digit assist half this season.
“I was cramping a little bit [in the second half]. So that’s on me to handle that and take care of that,” said Simmons, who added he’ll be fine Wednesday against Boston. “So that slowed me down a little bit, but I was able to still find my guys and make plays. So it was good.”
Noah Clowney had 15 points and seven rebounds, hitting 5 of 10 from deep. At 20 years, 120 days old, he’s the youngest Net ever with five 3s in a game.
“That’s what we’re supposed to do. My teammates found me when I was open. Gotta let it fly,” Clowney said.
Asked when he knew he had it going, he replied, “It don’t take but one for me, really. If I can make one, it’s going up. I mean, even if I don’t make none, it’s still going up. So it don’t really matter.”
Cam Johnson saw his NBA-record string of turnover-free, 30-minute outings snapped at seven.
Ziaire Williams started in place of Dorian Finney-Smith, a late scratch with an ankle injury. Williams broke a skid of 14 straight misses from deep.
“[Finney-Smith] felt it this morning after shootaround,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “I’m not probably the specialist right there, but ankle sprain should be not super concerning. But we have to be cautious. That’s what’s best for him and his body right now.”
