OKC Thunder: Dennis Schröder vs. Carmelo Anthony – who’ll be more impactful?
One trade and one buyout later, Carmelo Anthony is with Houston and Dennis Schröder lands on the OKC Thunder. The question is which player will be more impactful.
One season after loosing one of the NBA’s brightest stars in Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti pulled out another trick. It was the umpteenth marvel of Presti’s ridiculous 2017 offseason by landing Carmelo Anthony in exchange for Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott.
It had been a tough, exhausting season for Thunder fans. They clearly enjoyed one of the most illogical seasons in league history, but on the other side they had to deal with their team’s complexities in terms of success.
Sam Presti knew the OKC Thunder needed to change; to add another elite player who could play alongside Russell Westbrook and simplify his game. So, he decided to take a risk, trading Victor Oladipo and a promising young player in Domantas Sabonis for what seemed a one-year rental.
After Paul George, the front office kept improving the team, signing Raymond Felton and Patrick Patterson in free agency and of course trading for Carmelo Anthony.
Despite a significant upgrade of the roster, the season didn’t go as expected, with Roberson’s injury playing a strong role in the team’s collapse. Even though the OKC Thunder had home court advantage in the playoffs, the Utah Jazz knocked them out in the first round, led by their young rookie star, Donovan Mitchell.
Upgrades in 2018:
The Big 3 experiment didn’t work out, so OKC decided to go in a different direction. With Paul George signing the team decided to part ways with Carmelo Anthony. This occurred via a block-buster deal with the Sixers and the Hawks. Sam Presti, who has capitalized on every chance to improve the team roster didn’t hesitate when an opportunity presented itself. in exchange for Anthony OKC got something valuable in return in the form of Dennis Schröder and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot.
After the trade, Carmelo Anthony reached a buyout with the Atlanta Hawks and joined his longtime friend Chris Paul in Houston on a veteran’s minimum contract, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Carmelo Anthony has finalized buyout with the Atlanta Hawks, giving back $2.4M of his $27.9M salary, league sources tell ESPN. That's veteran's minimum he'll get back with new team. Anthony will wait to clear waivers in 48 hours to officially tell Rockets of intentions to sign.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 30, 2018
The Rockets have pursued Anthony since 2014, as Daryl Morey pointed out in a tweet, and they have finally got the player they wanted for a very long time.
The question is which player will prove to be more valuable for their squad – Schröder or Anthony. Let’s dive in and examine what each player brings to their new club.