Report: Celtics have offered Dennis Schröder a one-year deal

While it’s not quite the $84 million contract extension he turned down with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dennis Schröder reportedly has money on the table for the taking by way of the Boston Celtics, according to MassLive’s Brian Robb:

Since late last week, Boston’s interest in Dennis Schröder has gained momentum, especially as other high-level options such as Malik Monks and Patty Mills took deals with contenders elsewhere. Boston was reluctant to add salary beyond this year and aren’t located in Los Angeles, California, making it harder to attract top-flight talent in free agency. Instead, Brad Stevens has opted to maintain cap flexibility for 2022 while also working trades – getting rid of Kemba Walker and Tristan Thompson in favor of Al Horford, Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando (added to the Vegas Summer League roster).

Dennis Schröder had a disappointing end to his season in an underwhelming series against the Phoenix Suns in which he shot terribly. Heralded as an upgrade over the 2020 championship Lakers’ guard rotation, Schröder failed to have the same impact in a brief postseason run that was hampered by injuries to the team’s top stars.

As soon as the Lakers secured a trade deal for Russell Westbrook, the writing was on the wall for Schröder. Free agency deals for point guards came and went, leaving him in the dust.

Robb reports that the Celtics could be offering the full mid-level exception (around $9.5 million). Doing this would hard-cap the team (similar to how the team was hard-capped after handing that deal to Tristan Thompson last offseason). This could prevent future flexibility around the trade deadline. Additionally, the Celtics would need to shed salary to get there. One potential way to do that would be to trade Kris Dunn into space and then waiving Jabari Parker.

The Celtics could also be offering the non-taxpayer mid-level (around $5.89 million). This would not require any further action from the Celtics, but would Schröder take a deal that low?

That’s probably what we’re waiting on since, according to this report, Boston’s end of this is done. Now it’s just about waiting for a decision. There aren’t that many teams with both the money and opportunity for Schröder, not to mention playoff teams.

My educated guess is that the Celtics are offering either a one-year deal at the taxpayer mid-level ($9M) or a 1+1 deal with a player option at $5.89M. The later option wouldn’t hamper the Celtics too much next summer because trading a talented Schröder into cap space to another team wouldn’t be incredibly difficult if he were to pick up that contract option.

Schröder could either slide into the starting lineup next to Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and one of Horford/Robert Williams, or he could provide needed offensive burst off the bench in a role that he’s quite familiar with – sixth man.

We’ll probably hear one thing or another in the coming days! Until then, enjoy the Summer Celtics.