Boston Celtics and Dennis Schroder agree to $ 5.9million, one-year deal

Free agent playmaker Dennis Schroder is heading to the Boston Celtics, he announced on his Instagram account on Tuesday.

The deal is for a year and will cover the mid-level taxpayer exception of $ 5.9 million, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Schroder, who turns 28 in September, was the last free agent without significant compensation left in the market. He turned down a lucrative Los Angeles Lakers regular-season extension offer worth north of $ 80 million to secure a bigger deal this summer.

In Boston, Schroder enters Celtics team with a hole in the leader following Kemba Walker’s trade to Oklahoma City, allowing him to increase his value for when he returns to the market as an agent. free next summer. .

“I am proud to announce that for the 2021-22 season, I will be playing for the Boston Celtics!” Schroder wrote on his Instagram Stories. “This is one of the best franchises in NBA history and it will be an honor to put on the green and the white and do what I love! I go there every night and I leave everything by land for the city !! Who’s ready? “

The Lakers acquired Schroder in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder in last year’s NBA Draft in exchange for Danny Green and last year’s first-round pick.

Schroder averaged 15.4 points and 5.8 assists in 61 games – all starts – for the Lakers, but was mired in controversy after missing 11 days late in the regular season due to his entry into NBA health and safety protocols. He told a German publication that he and LeBron James were the only Lakers not vaccinated, before telling local reporters on his return: “I’m the only guy who hasn’t been vaccinated. stay here. .”

He then averaged 14.3 points, but shot just 40 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from the 3-point line in the Lakers’ six-game loss to the Phoenix Suns in the first round. of the Western Conference playoffs.

“You have to go through the bulls — to get to the right ones —,” Schroder told reporters at his season-ending press conference after that Suns series.

By signing Schroder for the mid-level taxpayer exception, as well as signing center Enes Kanter for a one-year minimum contract, Boston now sits just over $ 4 million on the luxury tax line with 15 guaranteed contracts on his list.

The Celtics have just had a disappointing season that saw them finish seventh in the East and lose in five games to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. At the end of the year, longtime president of basketball operations Danny Ainge stepped down, longtime coach Brad Stevens took his place and the Celtics hired the Nets’ assistant. Ime Udoka to replace him.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, now faces a nearly $ 200 million payroll and luxury tax bill, even without Schroder, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, after trading for Russell Westbrook, signed Kendrick Nunn. for a two-year contract worth $ 10 million, re-sign Talen Horton-Tucker for a three-year $ 32 million contract and fill the rest of the list with minimum one-year contracts, including future Hall of Fame members Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard.