Celtics Dennis Schroder is quietly playing far better than his contract

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Dennis Schroder

Despite the Bucks missing their All-Stars in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the Celtics needed overtime to put away the defending champions in Boston. 

However, they'll take it. The 122-113 overtime victory gets the team's record back to .500 at 6-6 and caps-off a good stretch of five games where they've gone 4-1. 

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In this one, Dennis Schroder went off. The Celtics' offseason acquisition scored 38 points, which is just three shy of his career-high. 

“He’s been very aggressive,” Coach Udoka says of Dennis Schroder. “He got hot late, and we rode his hand.”

Schroder scored 19 of his 38 in the fourth quarter and overtime. In the extra five minutes, he outscored the Bucks alone as he scored eight of the Celtics' 14 points. In a game where they suited up without Jaylen Brown, Boston needed this outburst from the 6-foot-3 German guard.

The franchise acquired him in the offseason as a free agent, signing him to a 1-year $5.89 million deal which is far lesser than the four-year, $84 million extension he was offered by his previous team - the Los Angeles Lakers - midway through the 2020-21 season. 

For his current salary on the books, Schroder is certainly outplaying his value.

His averages through 12 games are not far off his career-highs - 16.5 points (18.9), 5.6 assists (6.3), 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals. The team's net rating with him on the floor of +4.3 only ranks behind starters Robert Williams, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. 

Through 12 games, Schroder has started half of them with his numbers and impact taking a huge jump whlie being part of the first five. So, how will Celtics play him going forward, an easy answer going forward with Brown sidelined with a hamstring injury but what about after that?

Starter or bench, one thing is for sure,  the 6-foot-3 German guard has been playing far better than the value of his contract.

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