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Adrian WojnarowskiESPN
The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade forward Carmelo Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks, where he will be waived and will become a free agent, league sources said.
The Houston Rockets are the front-runners to sign Anthony, who also is considering the Miami Heat, league sources said.
Along with Anthony and his $27.9 million expiring contract, the Thunder will send a 2022 protected first-round pick to the Hawks for guard Dennis Schroder and forward Mike Muscala. The 2022 first-round pick is protected 1-14, and becomes two second-round picks if not conveyed in that first year, league sources said.
The Thunder will then send Muscala to the Philadelphia 76ers for forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, league sources said.
Schroder comes to the Thunder for a desired need: another fast, playmaking point guard for a revved-up bench behind All-Star guard Russell Westbrook. OKC general manager Sam Presti and coach Billy Donovan were given permission to speak with Schroder before the agreement, and the three of them discussed his role with Oklahoma City.
The Thunder could have saved $107 million with the waive-and-stretch provision on Anthony’s $27.9 million contract, but hunted a trade that allows them to save slightly less money and improve the roster. The stretch provision would have added $9 million-plus a year to the Thunder’s payroll for the next three years, dead money that could not be moved off the cap.
The Thunder’s projected luxury tax bill, meanwhile, will drop from $150 million to $88.8 million, saving them $62 million. The Thunder will save an additional $11 million with Schroder’s $15.5 million contract and the $1.5 million cap hit of Luwawu-Cabarrot. The Thunder’s payroll will stand at $148.7 million after the Anthony and Muscala deals.
Schroder has three years at $15.5 million annually left on his deal, which makes it really worth $5 million a year to the Thunder because they would have had to pay $9 million of that over the next three seasons for Anthony. So, in essence, Oklahoma City is paying $5 million in each of the next three seasons for a 24-year-old point guard who has started 161 games in five NBA seasons.
The Hawks were motivated to move Schroder after drafting Trae Young with the fifth overall pick last month and then trading with Brooklyn for veteran point guard Jeremy Lin.
Anthony was acquired from the New York Knicks before training camp opened last season, and waived his no-trade clause. He accepted a new role with OKC that featured changing positions from small forward to power forward. It took time for Anthony to adapt, and he never completely found comfort playing as a catch-and-shoot stretch 4.
It came to a head during the Thunder’s postseason series against the Utah Jazz, with Anthony’s role being reduced throughout the series. In Game 6, Anthony played only 26 minutes, including just three in the fourth quarter. Anthony averaged 11.8 points in the series, shooting just 37.5 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from 3-point range.
While Anthony expressed frustration with his role after the season, the Thunder had anticipated that he would opt in to the final year of his deal, always viewing the trade with the Knicks as a two-year deal.
Information from ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Royce Young was used in this report.