Dennis Schroder's lone season with the Los Angeles Lakers didn't exactly go smoothly.
The veteran point guard reportedly turned down a four-year, $84 million contract extension offer from the Lakers last season with the hope of landing a lucrative deal in free agency. But he struggled with inconsistent play and missed seven of Los Angeles' last nine games due to COVID-19 before the Lakers were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.
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Apparently Schroder and All-Star forward Anthony Davis didn't mesh well, either. From Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus on Wednesday:
Per an NBA source familiar with some of the Lakers' struggles through the 2020-21 campaign, Davis felt some frustration that he wasn't getting the kind of looks in the post with Dennis Schroder running the point compared to those he received with (Rajon) Rondo a year earlier.
Boston Celtics
According to Pincus, Davis' frustration may have contributed to the Lakers not re-signing Schroder, which allowed the Boston Celtics to land the 27-year-old on a one-year, $5.9 million bargain contract in free agency.
This report may make Celtics fans wary, but there are a few reasons why Boston shouldn't be concerned about any issues between Davis and Schroder last season.
For starters, the C's don't have anyone like Davis on their roster. Only three centers had a higher usage rate than Davis last season (Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Nikola Vucevic), and neither Robert Williams nor Al Horford will be demanding the steady diet of low-post touches that Davis sought.
While the Celtics have two elite scorers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, neither needs isolation touches in the post to initiate offense, and both are facilitators in their own right who averaged a combined 7.7 assists per game last season.
Why CJ McCollum is bullish on Schroder's potential with C's
Schroder also shouldn't be compared to Rondo, one of the NBA's most pass-first point guards. Schroder averaged 5.8 assists per game last season but is a more offensive-minded player who has averaged 14.3 points on 12.2 shot attempts per game over his career.
Finally, Schroder will be in a much different situation in Boston. Set to hit free agency again next summer, he has financial motivation to be the best version of himself as a playmaker and teammate, and the Celtics will rely on him to be not only a facilitator but also a strong secondary scorer behind Tatum and Brown.
Schroder might endure some growing pains early in the season, but there's reason to believe Ime Udoka's club will get a better version of the nine-year veteran in 2021-22.