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After the Boston Celtics swept their season series against the Toronto Raptors on January 15, former Celtic Dennis Schröder had a strong message for his former teammate Jayson Tatum.
After the Celtics win, Tatum shared a photo of the signed jersey he received from Schröder, where it said, “Brodie 4 life. Go get that chip this year. PS Top 5.” Tatum’s picture was aggregated by CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell’s X account.
Tatum and Schröder were teammates on the Celtics during the 2021-22 season before the Celtics traded the latter. Evidently, there are no hard feelings between the two players, as Schröder has seemingly indicated the two are still and have been friends since splitting up. Through his message to Tatum, Schröder clearly believes the Celtics are capable of winning a title this season and that Tatum is one of the best players in the league.
The Raptors have not had the same fortune as the Celtics during the 2023-24 season. Not only did the Celtics sweep them, but the loss made the Raptors 15-25 and the no. 12 seed in the Eastern Conference. There may not be a place for Schröder on the team long-term if their season continues to trend downward.
Jayson Tatum Praises Dennis Schröder
After the Celtics win, Jayson Tatum praised Dennis Schröder as a person and as a player while reflecting on their time as teammates.
“Great guy, great teammate, just super competitive,” Tatum said via Dalzell. “When you get to be around him a lot more that, if he sees something he doesn’t like, he’s gonna say it. If he did something I didn’t like, I was gonna say it. We kinda had that trust that we just wanted to win. We had hard conversations, but I got a lot of respect for him because, at his core, he just wants to win. He’s a hell of a competitor.”
Schröder played 49 games for the Celtics before Boston traded him to the Houston Rockets. The Celtics were 31-25 before they traded Schröder. After the trade, the Celtics won 20 of their last 26 games. Derrick White and Daniel Theis proved to be better fits around the team than Schröder did that season.
Jayson Tatum Singles Out Jabari Parker
During his postgame press conference, Jayson Tatum also talked about another ex-Celtics teammate, Jabari Parker, who currently plays overseas.
“I did see he had a buzzer beater the other day,” Tatum said, per Taylor Snow’s X account. “I haven’t talked to Jabari in a minute, but somebody that I got a lot of respect for. Happy that he’s playing at a high level. Obviously, I got to play with him (in) two different stints with the Celtics.”
Tatum also talked about the influence Parker had on him as a player as he entered college.
“He was the reason I went to Duke. I wanted to be like him. So I’ve got a lot of love for him and happy he’s playing well.”
Parker played for the Celtics from 2021 to 2022, but he was not featured much during his time in Boston. Parker came into the NBA with plenty of NBA, but rampant injuries, including two ACL tears in the same knee, cut his time in the league short. The Celtics were the last NBA team to employ him.
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