Report: Dennis Schroder Traded to Rockets; Celtics Get Daniel Theis
February 10, 2022
The Boston Celtics have traded Dennis Schroder, Enes Freedom and Bruno Fernando to the Houston Rockets for Daniel Theis, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Wojnarowski noted Freedom will be waived by Houston.
Schroder, who signed a one-year, $5.9 million contract last offseason with the C's, is averaging 14.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
The 28-year-old, who has played for the Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers and Celtics over his nine-year career, is shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from three-point range.
Brian Robb of MassLive explained on Jan. 27 why Schroder, who has fared well for the Celtics, could be involved in a trade:
"Schroder signed a one-year, $5.9 million contract last August, making him an obvious candidate to be moved if Brad Stevens wants to secure some value for the potential offseason flight risk. The Celtics do not have any cap space this summer and do not hold Bird Rights on Schroder, limiting the amount they can offer him in contract negotiations this summer. Many assume Schroder will be able to get a bigger deal outside of Boston but a closer look (more on that later) at the cap teams in 2022 signals that’s far from a sure thing."
Boston's loss is Houston's gain as the Rockets get a proven scorer and ball-handler who will provide great backcourt depth.
The Celtics could also stand to shake up their rotation, especially with the team scuffling through a 31-25 season that sees it sitting squarely in the middle of the Eastern Conference despite a recent run of success that includes a six-game winning streak.
With this deal, Boston will be reuniting with Theis, who spent the first three-plus years of his career with the team. He averaged 7.2 points and 4.9 rebounds while playing 18.8 minutes per game during his first stint with Boston from 2017 to 2021.
The 29-year-old is averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this season.