The Oklahoma City Thunder traded Carmelo Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks, and Twitter can’t stop praising what genera manager Sam Presti did.
It’s not often that a team trades a star player for 10 cents on the dollar, and the former fanbase is really fired up. However, in this case, that’s exactly the scenario that’s playing out.
On Thursday, the Oklahoma City Thunder dealt Carmelo Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks for point guard Dennis Schröder and a relative bag of basketballs. Atlanta then waived Anthony, putting him on the free-agent market to likely be scooped up by the Houston Rockets.
So why are Thunder fans so happy? Because instead of having to pay the remainder of Anthony’s $27.9 million contract, they are now only on the hook for Schröder’s $15.5 million cap hit through the 2021 season while the team saves $62 million in luxury tax money. This means the Thunder can now use those assets towards getting roster improvements instead of them being a sunk cost.
Oklahoma City could also flip Schröder for an expiring contract if it wants, completely wiping the Anthony disaster off the books after a single season.
With Paul Geroge and Russell Westbrook eating up massive portions of the cap, Presti did well to relieve himself of any other large contracts while maintaining flexibility down the line. The Thunder aren’t winning a title this year anyway with the Golden State Warriors and Rockets lording over the West, but they remain a viable threat to reach the conference semifinals.
As for the reaction to dealing Melo, check out some of the tweets fired out in the immediate aftermath…
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The excitement is understandable. Oklahoma City appeared destined to have to either use to stretch provision or give up other assets to unload Anthony. Instead, Presti works some magic and ends up with a young, quality guard who can spell Westbrook or play alongside him despending on matchups.
Well done, Presti. Well done.