Photo Credit: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Dennis Schröder’s Candid Statement On Playing With LeBron James And Anthony Davis

Last night, the Boston Celtics played against the Los Angeles Lakers and while a matchup between the two best franchises in league is always something special, it likely was even more special for Celtics point guard Dennis Schröder.

Early in the 2020-21 regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers offered Dennis Schröder a 4-year, $84 million contract extension that was eventually declined by the 27-year old point guard. Schröder was reportedly willing to stay, but was looking for a bigger pay raise at around $100-120 million.

Schröder had a good start for the Lakers and came in help when LeBron James and Anthony Davis were battling injuries in the regular season. However, an abysmal production in the playoffs quickly lowered his value and put him a tight situation in this year’s free agency.

So instead of a $84M payday with the Lakers that was on his table earlier, Dennis had to take a $5.9M offer sheet from the Celtics. In Boston, Dennis is trying to prove the world that he’s worth more than his current contract and play for a bigger payday next year.

So before the game last night, Schröder obviously was confronted with the situation of facing his former team, and his dip in production last year. That’s when the point guard revealed that a big reason for his dip in play was due to him being too tentative alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Per Heavy.

“That’s the reason I was hesitating a little bit. The way I played is not how Dennis played over his whole career in the NBA so that’s the reason I was like, ‘Okay, I have to see how it’s going next.’ That’s the reason why I even didn’t talk to the organization and said, ‘Listen, we can talk about (the contract) after the season. I want to concentrate during the season to finish it.’ Now, in the situation I’m in, I think I’m 100 percent comfortable so far. You feel the appreciation, you feel the organization is trying to help you, your family, your friends or whatever. It’s been great so far. I mean, this is all I wanted and I think we can accomplish something big here.”