Point guard Dennis Schroder signed a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics worth $5.9 million after he rejected a four-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers that was worth over $84 million.
Either Schroder is really bad at math or he wanted to get the hell out of LA. As a dour denizen of LA, I don’t blame him for wanting to bolt from the City of Angels, but I’d gladly stay put for $20 million a year.
Schroder was the last high-quality free agent available, but he didn’t fetch his agent’s asking price from any interested parties. Either Schroder or his agent had poor optics in evaluating the marketplace.
Schroder grew up in Germany and spent the first three seasons in the NBA coming off the bench for the Atlanta Hawks. In the 2016-17 season, he earned a starting job with the Hawks and flourished. In the 2017-18 season, he averaged a career-high 19.4 points with the Hawks.
He spent two seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder as their Sixth Man and averaged 17 ppg coming off the bench between 2018-2020. Last season with the Lakers, Schroder averaged 15.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game. He shot 33.5% from 3-point range.
Boston lowball
Schroder, who turns 28 in September, sought a mid-level exception contract that was worth $9.5 million. However, the Celtics lowballed him at $5.9 million. Schroder accepted the deal and will most likely play a one-and-done season in Beantown before he tests the free-agency waters again next summer.
“I’m proud to announce that for the 2021-22 season I’ll be playing with the Boston Celtics!” Schroder posted on his Instagram feed. “This is one of the best franchises in NBA history and it will be an honour to put on the green and white and do what I love. I’m going out there every night and leaving it all on the floor for the city!! Who’s ready?!”
After the Celtics traded Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder, they were in search of another guard. Schroder and Marcus Smart both play point guard, but it looks like Schroder will play off the ball at times.
The Celtics have a strong starting five with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Smart, Schroder, and Robert Williams. The Celtics also signed veteran center Enes Kanter to bolster a bench that also includes Payton Pritchard, Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, Al Horford, Jabari Parker, Aaron Nesmith, and Tacko Fall.
Pritchard had a strong rookie campaign last season. The former Oregon star is penciled in as the backup point guard.
Schroder says no, bring on Westbrook
After Schroder rejected the contract extension, the Lakers scrambled to find a suitable point guard. That’s when the Russell Westbrook trade talk with the Washington Wizards went from the back burner to the front burner.
Westbrook might not mesh on paper with LeBron and the Lakers, but the two are best buds, so LeBron should be able to easily sway Westbrook to alter his stats-oriented game.
The Lakers are the second-highest favorite on the NBA futures board at +380 odds to win the 2022 NBA championship. The Celtics are ranked #13 overall and +5000 odds to win the title.
