The Oklahoma City Thunder were somehow able to find a suitor for overpaid 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony on the trade market.
A day after it was reported that Oklahoma City was talking to the Atlanta Hawks about a trade that would send Melo to Atlanta for Dennis Schroder, the deal has now reportedly come to fruition.
Oklahoma City has agreed to trade Carmelo Anthony and a protected 2022 first-round pick to Atlanta for point guard Dennis Schroder and Mike Muscala, league sources tell ESPN. Anthony will be waived, and he will join team of his choice. Rockets are frontrunner.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 19, 2018
This move clears $27.9 million of Anthony’s salary from the Thunder’s payroll while adding Schroder and his four-year, $70 million contract to the books. It also gives Oklahoma City the opportunity to team Schroder up with former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook in the backcourt.
From Atlanta’s perspective, this was pretty much a salary cap dump. The team will almost certainly work on a buyout with Anthony, at which point it seems likely that the future Hall of Famer will sign with the Houston Rockets.
This was some pretty solid work from the Thunder and GM Sam Presti and Co. Not only does it give the team a solid guard moving forward, the addition of center Mike Muscala in the deal could come in handy. The 27-year-old big man averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds last season.