With Carmelo Anthony off the books, the OKC Thunder can move forward with Dennis Schroder. The talented German guard comes to OKC with plenty of skills and improves OKC’s roster exponentially.
The OKC Thunder – Carmelo Anthony saga finally came to an end when Oklahoma City, the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks agreed to participate in a three-way trade.
To recap three-team trade between Hawks, Thunder and 76ers: Carmelo Anthony and Justin Anderson to Hawks. Anthony bought out. Mike Muscala to 76ers. Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot to Thunder.
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) July 19, 2018
Oklahoma City sent a 2022 protected first-round pick to Atlanta and created a $10.9-million Trade Exception.
Before we delve into OKC’s main attraction, the Thunder also received 76ers guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. To the uninformed, the 6’6 guard out of France was selected 24th overall in the 2016 draft. He has started 26 out of 121 career games and has showed glimpses of potential. He adds to Oklahoma City’s affinity for length (6’11 wingspan) and defensive minded players except he can actually make free throws (83.4 percent).
The biggest piece of the deal was Hawks point-guard Dennis Schroder. The 24-year old German has been on the block for over two months but his potential felony aggravated battery charge scared teams away.
However, the OKC Thunder have taken risks on restoring players reputations (insert Dion Waiters and Enes Kanter) before, thus Schroder certainly fits the mold. He’s had his fair share of off-court problems in Atlanta (clashing with coaching, fellow players and a pending court case) but Schroder holds tremendous value for the Thunder.
Lets take a look at three reasons why this was a terrific signing for OKC.