Dennis Schröder bet on himself and lost, but we shouldn't look down on him for it
Dennis Schröder has to prove himself — again.
It’s easy to look at Dennis Schröder’s offseason and call it an absolute disaster. That’s probably the most honest description of it possible. There’s nothing else you can call it.
Schröder was reportedly offered a 4-year, $84 million extension from the Lakers last season and declined it. He’d hoped to find a better offer during free agency this summer.
Turns out that was his best offer right there. He couldn’t find anything close to it.
Now, what he’s left with is a one-year prove-it deal from the Boston Celtics worth $5.9 million — so far below what he’d originally thought his market was and so far away from the Lakers’ offer.
Even the least cap savvy NBA fan in the world can look at that situation and see how terribly things went for Schröder . Elle Duncan’s reaction to the deal is more than appropriate.
Elle Duncan's reaction to Dennis Schröder signing a 1 year deal in Boston after turning down the Lakers offer pic.twitter.com/KsEucwWbs2
— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) August 10, 2021
Of course, the Internet got on him for fumbling the bag and losing a bunch of money.
Dennis Schroeder is the biggest loser in free agency. Man went from an $80M contract to a MLE… tuff https://t.co/IRSE7AjLOI
— LegendOfWinning (@LegendOfWinning) August 10, 2021
Dennis Schröder looking for who robbed him out of 78M dollars pic.twitter.com/HkB5jjVI2T
— ② x ⑥ x ①⑤ (@EliteLBJCade) August 10, 2021
Dennis Schroeder: I want a deal around $120m
A few months later…Lakers sign Melo,Russ,NunnDennis Schroeder: Is the $84m deal still available?
Pelinka to Schroeder: pic.twitter.com/nZ3aPMaHNx
— ???? ???? (@eezymoneysniper) August 3, 2021
Robert Horry absolutely roasted him on the jump.
Robert Horry didn’t hold back on how he feels about Dennis Schröder
pic.twitter.com/MxaDUrhmRA— The Laker Files (@LakerFiles) August 6, 2021
Schröder bet on himself and lost. But, as much flack as he’s catching now, he wasn’t wrong to do that.
This summer’s market was missing big names. Kyle Lowry was the biggest domino and lots of teams needed a point guard — including his Lakers. They were absolutely Schröder’s best option because they could pay him the most and also didn’t have a ton of flexibility.
Then the Russell Westbrook trade happened. No one saw it coming.
Schröder suddenly loses his best suitor and then loses out to Kyle Lowry, Lonzo Ball and Spencer Dinwiddie in a game of musical chairs with NBA teams. That’s just how the dice happened to roll. It doesn’t mean the thinking was wrong there.
In hindsight, would Schröder have taken the Lakers’ original extension offer? Probably so. But he took a worthwhile gamble to try to maximize his value to its fullest potential and that’s not a bad thing.
It didn’t work out this time. But the thing about it is now he just has to do it again. This time, on a deal with the Celtics. And it’s a pretty good situation. He’ll be next to two All-Star caliber wings in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, a great defender in Marcus Smart and a savvy vet like Al Horford. This team can win some games and he can be a part of that.
Will he get that same Lakers offer? Probably not. But either way, this isn’t the end of the road for Schröder. We should stop acting like it is.
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