Dennis Schroder seemingly found his stride with the Brooklyn Nets this season, however, the Golden State Warriors swooped in and acquired the 31-year-old guard two months ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
Schroder — along with a second-round pick — was traded from Brooklyn to Golden State on Saturday, per ESPN’s Shams Charania, in exchange for De’Anthony Melton and three second-round picks. For the Warriors, star Stephen Curry is getting a complementary guard to strive toward a push in the Western Conference.
The Nets essentially struck gold in welcoming Schroder aboard for his debut season in Brooklyn. He’s averaged 18.4 points with a career-high 6.6 assists in 33.6 minutes across 23 starts for the Nets, keeping the franchise in contention for an improbable run — Brooklyn is 10-15, seeded 10th in the Eastern Conference but only sits 0.5 a game back from the No. 8 seed Indiana Pacers. Schroder, most notably, surged to become a premier scoring option in Brooklyn and overshadowed three-time All-Star Ben Simmons.
Now, Schroder heads off to Golden State, a team unsurprisingly dipping its foot in the trade market prematurely. The Warriors split up their splash brother duo by allowing Klay Thompson to depart and sign with the Dallas Mavericks in free agency this past offseason, leaving Curry and the rest of Golden State in doubtful territory entering the season. Without Thompson, the Warriors have gone 14-10 as the No. 6 seed in the West but needed a depth piece to provide consistent offense — which teammates such as Buddy Hield and Andrew Wiggins have struggled to do thus far.
For the Nets, the trade could signal Brooklyn’s early surrender. Teams such as the reigning champion Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic and New York Knicks are bounds ahead of the Nets this season. Brooklyn has logged encouraging performances of its own with wins over the Bucks, Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, however, the Nets’ front office has plenty of work left to do before teams view Barclays Center as the home of a legitimate playoff-contending threat.
Schroder is playing under an expiring $13 million contract and is set to hit the open market in 2026 as an unrestricted free agent.
