Getty Head coach Frank Vogel and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Despite rumblings that the Los Angeles Lakers were interested in a reunion with guard Dennis Schroder at the trade deadline — reportedly offering a plethora of second-round picks and minimal contracts for his services, per Heavy.com NBA insider Steve Bulpett — a deal never came to fruition.
The Boston Celtics instead opted to move Schroder in a four-player deal with the Houston Rockets, while the Lakers stayed put. Yet, while Los Angeles may have missed out on Schroder’s services, they’ve since managed to acquire the rights to another guard with previous ties to their vaunted rivals.
On February 24, the Lakers’ G League affiliate team, the South Bay Lakers, announced the acquisition of former Celtics point guard Tremont Waters and a 2022 NBA G League second-round draft pick (via Agua Caliente) via a trade with the Wisconsin Herd. In exchange, the Lakers dealt away 2020 G League MVP Frank Mason III and a first-round pick.
Waters, 24, appeared in 14 games (12 starts) with the Herd this season, averaging 15.6 points, 6.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game.
Waters Spent 2 Seasons With the Celtics
A former First-team All-SEC selection at LSU, Waters was selected by the Celtics in the second round of the 2019 NBA draft. He spent his first two professional seasons splitting time between the Celtics of the NBA and their G League affiliates, the Maine Celtics (formerly the Red Claws).
In 2020, Waters earned G League Rookie of the Year honors by averaging 18.0 points, 7.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. However, that type of success never translated over to the NBA hardwood. In 37 career games with Boston, Waters averaged just 3.8 points on 36.1% shooting (30.6% from three) and 2.1 assists.
Prior to the start of the 2021-22 season, The Athletic’s Jared Weiss reported that the West Haven native returned home and was training away from the team while he sought “more of an opportunity to break into a rotation elsewhere in the NBA.” Waters eventually got his wish — sort of. He joined the Houston Rockets for the final two games of Summer League. He then went on to ink 10-day contracts with both the Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards during the holiday season before returning to the Herd for his second stint.
Brad Stevens Talks Celtics Trades
As we noted earlier, Brad Stevens’ decision to move Dennis Schroder at the deadline allowed Boston to reunite with former starter Daniel Theis. However, that wasn’t the only move Boston made on February 10. The Celtics also landed two-way guard Derrick White in a deal with the San Antonio Spurs. On February 24, Stevens caught up with Mass Live’s Brian Robb to discuss his initial takeaways from the two acquisitions:
I think the least of our concerns is fit. The (fit) was pretty obvious. Daniel has been here so that kind of speaks for itself so you know exactly what he brings to the table and how he can help others. Derrick, I think that one of his great qualities is he’s a really good player and he can impact the game with and without the ball. He doesn’t need the ball, he’s super unselfish and is all about winning, all the stuff that adds up. Fitwise, you thought it would look good. Thus far, it’s been good but we are only four games in, we’ll see how it looks in the next 22 and hopefully beyond that.
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