It’s only right that Dennis Schroeder joined the Boston Celtics, because he is probably feeling green right about now. Tuesday, ESPN NBA analyst Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the point guard signed with Boston for a 1 year, $5.9 million MLE contract. In any other this might not raise too many eyebrows, but it’s not every year that a player signs for that amount of money after turning down $84 million. That was the amount reportedly offered to Schroder after he fulfilled certain incentives. When the news of his Celtics deal became official, Twitter did not hold back in letting their thoughts known:
Dennis Schroder has to be feeling nothing less than disgusted. People love hearing about athletes that bet on themselves, in hopes that outcome will turn out positive for them, but it sucks when the opposite happens; especially since those same people will be cracking plenty of jokes. A perfect example would be Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. His contract negotiations were drawn out until he got the money he actually wanted this past offseason, in spite of an ankle injury that ended his season last year. Athletes know the risks all too well, but what should be stopping them from going after what they feel they are worth? Schroder was as for as high as $120 million at one point, and a lot of people laughed him off, citing his performance in the playoffs as the reason.
But no matter how you look at it, nobody really expected Schroder to take this much of a drop in salary. In a league where max deals get thrown around, he could have at least landed a contract with some double figures. While Schroder might not have much starting experience, he has served in useful roles as a backup PG, with quite a few years of postseason experience. If anything, Schroder can take this an opportunity as a prove-it deal and get a bigger contract next season, and probably with a better agent.