The Oklahoma City Thunder have been expected to part ways with Carmelo Anthony this summer, but they threw a minor plot twist in the situation this past week. The Thunder sent Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade that included the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. The Hawks are expected to waive Anthony, making him a free agent.
So once again, we go back to the conversation on where the forward will go. The Houston Rockets remain the front-runner since they came oh-so close to signing him before he went to the Thunder last off-season. Reports have mention that he is also considering the Miami Heat.
The Thunder gave Anthony a $27.9 million contract earlier this off-season, which will expire with the Hawks. The trade on Thursday also sent Dennis Schroder and Mike Muscala to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who added a protected first-round pick in the package to ATL. The Sixers came in to play by acquiring Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and sending Justin Anderson to the Hawks.
The Thunder did save less money with this trade, as they could have salvaged up to $107 million by just cutting ties with Anthony themselves. Instead, they intended to improve their roster, that now has a proven backup point guard behind Russell Westbrook. If they would've waived the star forward, they would've received over $9 million per season for the next three years. Now, their new backup point guard has three years and $15.5 million per season left on his current contract. The Hawks trading away Schroder leaves room for rookie Trae Young to take over as the starting point guard. Atlanta was carrying three players at that position after also acquiring Jeremy Lin from the Brooklyn Nets.
Once the Hawks officially waive Anthony, as expected, he will be the top name on the market, but it may not take much time for him to find a home. He has been meeting with teams after the Thunder gave him permission to a little over a week ago. And now it's a waiting process for the business to follow through before we know for sure what uniform Melo will be wearing next season.
So once again, we go back to the conversation on where the forward will go. The Houston Rockets remain the front-runner since they came oh-so close to signing him before he went to the Thunder last off-season. Reports have mention that he is also considering the Miami Heat.
The Thunder gave Anthony a $27.9 million contract earlier this off-season, which will expire with the Hawks. The trade on Thursday also sent Dennis Schroder and Mike Muscala to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who added a protected first-round pick in the package to ATL. The Sixers came in to play by acquiring Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and sending Justin Anderson to the Hawks.
The Thunder did save less money with this trade, as they could have salvaged up to $107 million by just cutting ties with Anthony themselves. Instead, they intended to improve their roster, that now has a proven backup point guard behind Russell Westbrook. If they would've waived the star forward, they would've received over $9 million per season for the next three years. Now, their new backup point guard has three years and $15.5 million per season left on his current contract. The Hawks trading away Schroder leaves room for rookie Trae Young to take over as the starting point guard. Atlanta was carrying three players at that position after also acquiring Jeremy Lin from the Brooklyn Nets.
Once the Hawks officially waive Anthony, as expected, he will be the top name on the market, but it may not take much time for him to find a home. He has been meeting with teams after the Thunder gave him permission to a little over a week ago. And now it's a waiting process for the business to follow through before we know for sure what uniform Melo will be wearing next season.
