Trading Carmelo Anthony
With Carmelo Anthony’s massive $27 million contract weighing them down, the Thunder were going to be in for some rough financial times. The problem, too, was that they were overpaying for a player who is way past his prime and unwilling to accept a bench role.
This was clearly a detrimental situation to the team on multiple fronts, so naturally the Thunder decided to try to pawn off Anthony on someone else — anyone else. Miraculously, it worked.
The Thunder were able to trade Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team deal that landed them Dennis Schroder from Atlanta and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot from the Philadelphia 76ers. They had to give up Anthony, as well as a lottery-protected 2022 first round pick.
This trade was basically a dream come true for the Thunder. They got a talented backup for Westbrook and a promising young player in Luwawu-Cabarrot. Most importantly, they got Anthony’s contract off their hands and rid themselves of his ego, which was damaging the team.
Carmelo Anthony says he will NOT come off the bench:
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) July 26, 2018
“I know how to play this game of basketball, I’m not going to do that”. pic.twitter.com/RB159TXRTs
Of course, Schroder doesn’t exactly have the reputation as a good locker room guy either, but at least he can still produce numbers and won’t cost the Thunder a fortune.
Grade: A+