Lakers reportedly offered multiple second round picks to Celtics for Dennis Schröder

The tale of Dennis Schröder and the Los Angeles Lakers is a weird, winding one that seemed to have run into a dead-end before a new path was forged over the last week.

With the Lakers in search of any kind of help this season, Schröder’s name has begun to come up once again. Despite the nature of the way their last relationship ended, the Lakers appear more than willing to run it back with Schröder again this season.

Steve Bulpett — a former Boston Herald beat writer who has covered the Celtics across multiple decades — of Heavy reported on Monday that the Lakers apparently attempted to make a trade with the Celtics for Schröder at the deadline.

Word is the Celts were looking at other options for Schroder, whose in and out play and the fact it would be near impossible to re-sign him this summer made him a prime candidate for a new address. We’re told the Lakers were offering a couple of second-round picks and some minimum contracts and that there were a number of other talks, but the C’s eventually decided to clear out roster space and reunite with Theis.

The trade the Celtics ended up making, as pointed out, was a 3-for-1 trade that sent Schröder, Enes Freedom and Bruno Fernando to the Rockets for Daniel Theis, a move that cleared multiple roster spots as well. Given the Lakers were also seeking to clear roster spots as well, it’s unlikely the two sides got very far in negotiations.

But the fact the Lakers are seeking out Schröder again is another example of how badly they continue to manage assets. If the Lakers had agreed to a deal on Thursday for Schröder, it would mean they would have used upwards of three draft picks to acquire him across multiple deals.

For a team with such few options to build a roster outside of veteran’s minimum contracts, not only is attempting to use multiple assets to acquire him multiple times bad, but not even getting anything when he left is just as bad. Sure, the circumstances of Schröder’s free agency probably left both sides a bit jaded, the player and his agent almost certainly more so.

But the Lakers did not appear interested in facilitating a sign-and-trade, which is likely part of the reason Schröder signed a significantly reduced one-year deal and late in free agency after many suitors dried up. If the Lakers could have worked out a sign-and-trade, it would have potentially brought the team in some sort of an asset that they had so few of at the trade deadline this year.

It’s the type of move that, in a vacuum, may not seem like a big deal but when the Lakers keep missing on lots of smaller moves, some of those involving Schröder, it starts to quickly add up.

As for Schroder himself, Lakers fans are very familiar with his game from last season and little has changed this year. Nearly across the board, he’s averaging identical stats this year that he did in the purple and gold. He would offer the team a valuable option off the bench, but all of the same concerns about him would still be present.

Perhaps, though, the Lakers can wait until the summer and find a way to spend a draft pick to acquire him.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.