THE SECOND, Calif. — Dennis Schroeder said he has feelings of “unfinished business” after completing his first practice of his second stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
While the 29-year-old point guard stated his goal is to win, he also addressed a contract decision he made during the 2020-21 season that has haunted him ever since.
Schroder, who signed a one-year, $2.64 million deal with the Lakers last month, claims the Lakers never offered him the four-year, $84 million contract extension he was eligible to sign that season.
“I mean, at the end of the day, there was never a contract,” Schroder said. “There was never a contract, nothing was ever rejected… That’s not true.” It seems to be a semantic problem.
A source familiar with negotiations between Schroder’s agent at the time and the Lakers told ESPN that when LA broached talk of an extension in February 2021, Schroder’s side said they would prefer to wait until the offseason to discuss an extension. deal when he hit free agency.
The luck of Schroder and the Lakers changed from there. The Lakers, who were 22-7 in mid-February when those contract talks were happening, were 20-23 the rest of the way as injuries and COVID-19 absences took their toll on their roster. And Schroder was disappointing in that playoff loss to Phoenix, averaging 14.3 points on 40% shooting and 2.8 assists.
When the offseason rolled around, Los Angeles wasn’t interested in offering the same kind of long-term deal it had intended to discuss months before and ended up trading for Russell Westbrook to play as a point guard.
Schroder ended up signing a one-year, $5.9 million deal with the Boston Celtics and finished the season with the Houston Rockets after being traded.
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Schroder and his ‘unfinished business’ with Lakers