The Golden State Warriors have finalized a trade for Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder, the teams announced Sunday. In return, the Nets received guard De’Anthony Melton, who is out for the season due to an ACL injury, guard Reece Beekman and three second-round draft picks. The Warriors also got a second-round pick back.
Schroder is having arguably his best NBA season as Brooklyn’s starting point guard. He became a Net at last year’s trade deadline, and this season, he’s averaging 18.4 points and 6.6 assists per game on 45.2% shooting from the floor and 38.7% from deep. The trouble for Brooklyn is that Schroder has almost been too good.
The Nets traded quite a bit of future draft capital from other teams in order to regain control of their own draft picks in 2025 and 2026. Doing so only made sense if those picks turned out to be high, but at 10-15, the Nets have outperformed expectations. Moving Schroder should only help their draft position.
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Golden State is in a very different position. The Warriors are in win-now mode with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green still performing at something resembling their peak levels. Golden State’s primary weakness this season has been backup ball-handling. Brandin Podziemski hasn’t progressed as the team hoped, and there isn’t a traditional backup point guard to be found on this roster. Now, Schroder will fill that role for a Warriors team that started hot but has lost seven of its last nine games.
What’s interesting about this possible deal for Golden State is the opportunity cost of Schroder’s acquisition. He will obviously help the Warriors, but Melton’s contract would have been a very valuable chip to use in pursuit of a superstar. The Warriors tried to get both Paul George and Lauri Markkanen over the summer, and have been linked to Jimmy Butler and other stars during the season. Matching salary on players like that isn’t easy, and without Melton’s contract, it just got harder.
The Warriors are still likely open to a bigger trade, but seemingly decided that they couldn’t wait two more months to finish a deal. Schroder represents a real upgrade for them right now. If anything else comes later, well, that’s a bonus.
