The Oklahoma City Thunder have been frantically trying to find a way to get rid of Carmelo Anthony’s $28 million contract this summer, ever since he, wisely, elected to let the deadline to terminate the deal pass.
The Thunder didn’t want to just buy Anthony out and have to eat all that money, even using the stretch provision to limit this year’s tax hit, so they were shopping him to teams with major cap space. The Atlanta Hawks became the focal point of those discussions recently and on Thursday the two sides managed to come to an agreement on a deal.
Anthony and a 2022 protected first rounder will go to Atlanta, who in turn will send OKC Dennis Schröder and Mike Muscala, with Anthony waiving his no-trade clause in order to facilitate the deal that will end in him being bought out and likely heading to Houston this summer.
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
The pick, per ESPN’s Royce Young, will be a lottery protected first.
The pick the Thunder are sending the Hawks is 2022 lottery protected first rounder (1-14). If it doesn’t convey, it’ll become two second rounders.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) July 19, 2018
For the Hawks, this is a great deal as they were struggling to find a trade partner for Schröder given his contract and pending legal issues, but the Thunder are willing to take that risk to add another ball-handler and hope to tap into the potential he’s shown at times during his career.
Muscala will be flipped to the Sixers in a three-team deal, as the Thunder want to avoid taking on his $5 million that would be much more than that with their high tax bill. Philadelphia will send Atlanta Justin Anderson and OKC Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot to make money work, per the AJC’s Chris Vivlamore and Yahoo’s Shams Charania.
It's a three team trade. Muscala will got to Philly. Justin Anderson will come to Hawks. Carmelo will be bought out. Won't be a Hawk.
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) July 19, 2018
Sources: As part of multi-team Carmelo Anthony/Dennis Schröder deal, Atlanta's Mike Muscala will go to Philadelphia, 76ers' Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot will be traded to Oklahoma City and 76ers' Justin Anderson to Atlanta.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 19, 2018
All told, the Thunder will save almost $75 million by moving Anthony for Schröder’s $15.5 million deal thanks to the huge tax savings.
Oklahoma City was able to accomplish two things by trading Carmelo Anthony to Atlanta, improve the roster while saving $73M this season. The Thunder will now see their projected luxury tax bill drop from $150M to $88.8M, a savings of $62M. In addition,… https://t.co/dcp1nQxadt
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 19, 2018
Anthony, for his part, will not have to sacrifice any money in a buyout.
Anthony will get his entire $27.9M in the buyout and waiver with Hawks. It could take a few days to work thru logistics on trade. 'Melo met with Rockets and Heat in Las Vegas. Again, Rockets are the frontrunner. https://t.co/2rbDZ7vUu1
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 19, 2018
As for how Schröder will work with Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony, only time will tell, but both sides seem to have gotten what they wanted here. Atlanta manages to wrangle a future first for Dennis along with eating up their cap space to reach the floor, while OKC unloads Anthony and adds backcourt help.
