Atlanta Hawks: The Dennis Schroder-Carmelo Anthony trade helps everyone

The Dennis Schroder-Carmelo Anthony trade will help the Atlanta Hawks and the Oklahoma City Thunder move on from their bad contracts.

After struggling to attract suitors for point guard Dennis Schroder, the Atlanta Hawks finally found a couple of trade partners: the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Philadelphia 76ers.

According to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Hawks will send Schroder to the Thunder in exchange for Anthony and a protected 2022 pick. Additionally, Atlanta will send Mike Muscala to the Sixers, who will also get Justin Anderson from OKC in exchange for Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.

While this swap is far from finalized, the potential trade makes perfect sense for all parties, especially the Thunder and the Hawks.

It’s time to move on

Both the Hawks and the Thunder have tried to unload Schroder and Anthony this offseason, respectively, for similar reasons: lack of production. Oklahoma City brought Anthony in last season hoping that he, Paul George and Russell Westbrook would create a Big 3 potent enough to challenge the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference. That didn’t happen.

Anthony struggled in his new role as a tertiary scoring option, as he finished with career lows in Player Efficiency Rating (12.7), true shooting percentage (.503), win shares per 48 minutes (.071) and box plus/minus (-3.8) among other categories.

Thanks in part to Anthony’s struggles, the Thunder only improved their record by one game before bowing out in the first round to the Utah Jazz. Suffice to say, the Thunder weren’t exactly ecstatic about paying over $27 million for that level of production.

Schroder signed a four-year contract extension with the Hawks in 2016, with the team believing that he could man the point guard position for the foreseeable future. However, his advanced metrics were mediocre (17.3 PER, .059 win shares per 48 minutes) and the Hawks’ net rating dropped from -5.3 to -6.7 when he was on the floor.

Those numbers look a little worse considering the Hawks would have to pay Schroder $46.5 million over the next three seasons. Add in his pending legal troubles, the drafting of Trae Young and the acquisition of Jeremy Lin, and it looks like Atlanta is ready to move on from the German-born point guard.

Thi trade allows both teams to move on while gaining something in return. It’s probably also whats best for both players.

Everyone gets something of value

With the Hawks now viewing Young as the point guard of the future (for better or worse), it made little sense to keep Schroder around. The shaky numbers, significant price tag and the battery charge dampened his trade value, but the cap-strapped Thunder — one of the few teams interested in the point man — might be the best landing place for him.

Barring injury, he won’t usurp the supernova that is Westbrook in the starting lineup, but he can serve a role similar to the one Reggie Jackson did when he played in OKC: come off the bench and provide a scoring spark (assuming he doesn’t spend any time in jail).

For Atlanta, trading away Schroder allows them to close the book on the previous regime. With a relatively new GM, new coach and a roster filled with interesting young talent, Atlanta could focus on turning this team into a championship contender without giving minutes to a player that won’t bring the team closer to winning. Sending away Schroder, and getting a possible pick out of the deal, effectively hands the Hawks’ future to their young core.

Anthony wouldn’t be part of that future either, as the Hawks would probably buy him out the second the trade goes through. This would allow Anthony to join a contending team — likely the Houston Rockets — at a reduced rate, giving him a chance to pursue a title before his career ends.

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With this trade, the Hawks would get to move on from Schroder; the Thunder remove Anthony’s contract off of their books while adding a potentially helpful bench wing in Luwawu Cabarrot; Schroder gets a fresh start as Westbrook’s understudy; Philadelphia gets a useful big man in Muscala; and Anthony gets a chance to contribute to a contending team. Sounds like a win for everyone involved.