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Safe to say, Dennis Schroder has revitalized his stock with the Celtics this season. So much so, in fact, that he may have played himself right out of Boston’s plans.
Averaging 17.5 points, 4.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game this season, the 28-year-old guard is making the most out of the one-year, $5.9 million “prove it” deal that he inked this past summer. Destined to cash in on a contract next offseason that would prove difficult for the Celtics to provide, folks around the league expect the Cs will look to recoup some value by making Schroder available ahead of this year’s trade deadline.
Schroder & Boston Heading for a Divorce?
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, “Rival teams expect the Celtics to be open to talks around guard Dennis Schröder, who inked a one-year deal with Boston in the offseason but has had a strong season that likely prices him out of a potential re-signing.”
The thought of Boston being willing to move off of Schroder shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. As much as he’s proven to be a quality fit in Ime Udoka’s rotation, the fact of the matter is, the Celtics remain a near clone of their lackluster self from a season ago, boasting a record of 13-14 through the first 27 games of the year. With title aspirations looking to be a farce at this point, making what was already expected to be a short-term relationship with Schroder a tad bit shorter has its merits.
As highlighted by Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors, “the Celtics won’t have cap room in 2022 and would only be able to offer Schröder a 20% raise using his Non-Bird rights.”
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Celtics’ Trade Chips
Schroder is arguably Boston’s most appealing trade asset that the team would be willing to part with. Despite rumblings that the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown pairing could soon be coming to an end, the belief is that both players remain untouchable at this point in time. Robert Williams would also garner strong interest on the market, but at 24 years old and with a recently inked extension to boost, he looks to be part of Brad Stevens’ future plans — that is unless a blockbuster deal is presented to him, i.e.: Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, etc.
Otherwise, there aren’t many other players on the roster that Stevens could dangle in a worthwhile trade aside from maybe Josh Richardson. Al Horford has exceeded expectations this season but is 35 years of age, while the young trio of Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith remain too inconsistent to acquire quality pieces in return.
Should the Celtics entertain the idea of parting with Marcus Smart, then the idea of Schroder staying put in Boston becomes far more realistic. However, for now, it looks as if the German guard could be the odd man out in the Celtics backcourt come February 10th’s trade deadline.
After starting all 61 games of his Lakes tenure a season ago, Schroder has seen his minutes (33.4), field goal percentage (44.5) and 3-point percentage (34.2) all receive a bump in his first year with the Celtics.
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