Celtics scoop up best remaining free agent with Dennis Schroder deal

Former Los Angeles Lakers point guard Dennis Schroder is signing a short-term contract with the Boston Celtics.

Dennis Schroder was confident he would receive a huge offer from a team in free agency this offseason, given the amount of organizations in need of a point guard. Unfortunately for him, the market dried up on him after Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry flew off the board. Now, Schroder has found a new team on the short-term.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Schroder is signing a one-year, $5.9 million deal with the Boston Celtics.

Celtics sign former Lakers point guard Dennis Schroder

The Celtics entered this offseason looking to upgrade the point guard position. They traded Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who was later bought out of his contract and wound up joining the New York Knicks. With the Celtics having Marcus Smart and Payton Pritchard listed on the point guard depth chart, the team decided to bring in Schroder to bolster the position.

As mentioned earlier, Schroder was looking for a massive contract from a team this offseason. He was so confident in this, that he reportedly turned down an $84 million contract extension from the Lakers to explore free agency. That did not pan out as he expected, and the Lakers quickly moved on from him by trading for Russell Westbrook.

Through 61 regular-season games with the Lakers, Schroder averaged 15.4 points, 5.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals a night while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 33.5 percent from 3-point range.

Schroder will now play on a one-year contract in Boston in hopes of proving his worth to those teams in the need for a long-term option at point guard. If Schroder performs well throughout the 2021-22 season, he may very well become one of the top point men available in unrestricted free agency next summer.