If you thought Latrell Sprewell was the worst negotiator in NBA history, then you may have not heard about Dennis Schroder. Schroder cost himself nearly $80 million after turning down a massive offer from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Albeit he wasn’t worthy of that much money, the Lakers wanted to secure Schroder for the future so they offered him $84 million over 4 years. The German guard thought he would get more money and a bigger role in free agency… and that wasn’t the case.
Schroder’s phone barely rang during the first week of free agency. It was clear that no one was willing to meet his delusional pretensions, so he had to settle for a one-year, $5.9 million deal with the Boston Celtics.
Shaq Mocks Dennis Schroder, Robert Horry Slams Him Over Contract Fiasco
So, after that massive blow, Schroder pretty much became the NBA’s laughing stock, as no one could believe he cost himself that much money. Even Shaquille O’Neal took to Instagram to make fun of him.
“Things that make you go hmmmm #whatthehellareyouthinking,” Shaq captioned the post. Then again, he wasn’t as harsh as former Lakers forward Robert Horry, who mopped the floor with Schroder for turning down that contract:
“You said, ‘Oh, I want to return to the Lakers.’ But you wanted to play games. Now you are the disaster of your own game plan. You don’t know what you’re going to do. You probably lost about $60 million because you didn’t sign with the Lakers. Now you’re probably going to have to sign a one-year deal because I don’t think the Lakers are going to bring you back because they’re stacked now. They have no room for you,” Horry said.
“He wanted to be a starter in this league. Now wherever he goes, he’s going to go back to being a backup. I just hope it doesn’t turn out like an IT situation where you pass up on all this money, and you can never recoup it,” he added.
Schroder is worth more than just $6 million but he should’ve had just secured his bag when he had the chance. He’ll never come close to that kind of money again, and the Lakers got a massive upgrade in Russell Westbrook, so clearly that worked out perfectly for them.
