Boston Celtics: 5 offseason moves we never saw coming

Wow, Boston Celtics fans.

Shocker after shocker it was during the 2021 offseason. The Big Bang that caused the summer that followed was Brad Stevens being moved off the sidelines and into the front office as the new President of Basketball Operations.

Stevens replaced Danny Ainge, who had been in the seat for 18 years. In his first offseason in charge, Stevens established his core and swapped out the rest.

We saw a Kemba Walker trade coming…for a while. HH knew there’d be a time and place where Walker’s contract was moved for better-fitting pieces. Al Horford qualifies as such, but even his return was not the most shocking.

What did qualify as shocking were these 5 offseason moves:

The Boston Celtics get Dennis Schroder for dirt cheap

Dennis Schroder getting an offer far below the $80 million+ he was asking for was mildly shocking. The number he settled up with was a true stunner, though.

Schroder won’t even be collecting the full mid-level exception this upcoming year. Better yet, he may get more touches on the Cs second unit than he did as the starting floor general for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020-21.

Schroder averaged 12 shots per game alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, his lowest output since 2015-16. The lack of chemistry with those two directly led to Schroder getting offered scraps on the free agent market.

There’s a brighter future ahead under Ime Udoka, though, who will be able to deploy a second unit anchored by Schroder and Al Horford…giving them one of the league’s best benches.