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When the Boston Celtics signed Dennis Schroder this offseason, it was generally expected to be a one-year partnership. The Celtics would get a veteran point guard to bridge the gap for a year, while Schroder would have a chance to rebuild his value after missing out on a big contract in free agency. 

But with the Celtics off to a disappointing 13-14 start, and looking more like a play-in team than a potential challenger in the Eastern Conference, Schroder may not even last the entire season in Boston. The Celtics are expected to be open to trade talks involving Schroder once he's eligible to be dealt on Dec. 15, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. 

It's important to note that there is nothing imminent here, and the Celtics themselves are not looking to trade Schroder. Rather, they'd be willing to discuss the possibility if another team made them an offer. And given the situation for both parties, that makes sense.

The Celtics were hoping to put last season behind them and get back into the mix as a top three-to-five team in the East. In that world, Schroder would have been a perfect sixth-man off the bench who could run the offense and provide some additional scoring around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Even if he left after the season, it would have been worth it to remain competitive and maintain cap space moving forward. 

And who knows? The Celtics are still only four games out of third place in the East. Maybe once they get healthy, they go on a run and get back into the race for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. If so, it's unlikely they would trade Schroder. 

But if things continue as they are, and it's clear the Celtics aren't going to make any noise this season, it would make sense to look at trading Schroder. Again, this report is rather vague, and it's not clear what the Celtics could even get for him. But given the contract Schroder is going to be looking for, it's extremely unlikely he'll be back, so in that scenario, it would make sense to try and get some sort of return before he left for nothing. 

We'll have to see how the Celtics fare over the next month or so before we have a better idea of what they might do, but this is definitely a situation to monitor.