On Tuesday, Dennis Schroder returned to Staples Center for the first time since leaving the Los Angeles Lakers after a one-year spell in L.A.
The Lakers beat Schroder and his Boston Celtics 117-102, taking their revenge for the blowout loss they suffered at TD Garden earlier this season. As the iconic matchup came about this fall, the 28-year-old guard’s ill-famed departure from L.A. inevitably had to become a talking point again.
Schroder reportedly turned down a four-year, $84 million extension from the Lakers last year. That led to mockery in the offseason as the former Oklahoma City Thunder star ended up signing a one-year, $5.9 million deal with Boston.
However, Schroder told MassLive’s Brian Robb that things other than money contributed to the prompt end of his career in L.A. Among them, the guard said he didn’t feel he was the right playmaker for the Lakers:
“To play with AD and LeBron,” Schroder told MassLive. “It was an honor to play with them and see every single day how they work and how they do things on the court, off the court, it’s just a blessing. It’s the reason I’m grateful that I’ve seen it but for me, personally, it wasn’t the right fit.
“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.”
Schroder previously conceded that he didn’t play up to his potential despite sharing the floor with LeBron James and Anthony Davis last year.
The guard also joined in laughing at the jokes about how he “fumbled the bag” by turning down the massive contract extension from L.A., sharing a picture of him posing next to luxury cars on Instagram.
Schroder reportedly ‘feuded’ with Kyle Kuzma in 2020-21
Many rumors surrounded Schroder’s Staples Center exit in the offseason. One of them claimed that the guard “feuded” with former Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma throughout the campaign.
Meanwhile, Davis reportedly “felt some frustration” with Schroder’s passing last year.
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