Ex-Celtics Guard Shuts Down Reporter’s Question After Raptors Debut

Former Boston Celtics guard Dennis Schröder joined the Toronto Raptors during the offseason, and already recorded not only his first win of the season but his first viral-worthy postgame encounter with the media.

Schröder supplied a team-high 22 points with seven assists in Toronto’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. That made Schröder the first player to drop 20-plus points in his Raptors debut since Kawhi Leonard who led Toronto to its last and only NBA Finals title run — prompting a postgame question that Schröder wanted no part of.

“We not starting that,” Schröder responded, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports. “I mean, I’m just glad to get a W. They won a championship in 2019. We just try to get that winning culture back on our side. … I’m just glad we won the game and we just try to get better. Starts tomorrow.”

An interesting, but no less irrelevant question.

Schröder had a solid night, but there’s no reason to mention the 30-year-old FIBA hero (and MVP) in the same discussion as Leonard — a future Hall of Fame candidate.

Since the Raptors moved on after Leonard passed on the cold Toronto winters — and playing in front of Drake — for the Los Angeles sunset with the Clippers, it hasn’t been easy. Toronto isn’t nearly the same, nor has its solid depth that worked alongside Leonard, been able to carry the load of mustering a deep playoff run in recent years.

That transfers over a hefty load to Schröder as he now resides on the other side of one of Boston’s Eastern Conference rivals.