After the hiring of a new coach in Lloyd Pierce and the dismissal of Mike Budenholzer, the Atlanta Hawks are at a crossroads in their rebuild.
The recent release of Tyler Cavanaugh signals that this roster is far from set and that no one is safe from being waived or traded to another team. GM Travis Schlenk and Coach Lloyd Pierce are clearly focusing on developing a culture and moving forward with a new system and new team dynamic.
One familiar face that could be on the move is franchise stalwart Dennis Schröder, who, along with Kent Bazemore, is one of the longest-tenured Hawks still on the roster – joining the team via the 17th overall pick in 2013-14.
News broke today (via David Hein of Hein News) that DS17 is currently unhappy with the direction the team is going, as he “cannot be second to last in the Eastern Conference,” during the prime of his career. Technically, he wasn’t second to last in the East this season, as the Hawks sputtered to the worst record in that conference this season.
Speaking in Germany at a German Basketball Federation DBB press conference, Dennis Schröder about the current situation with the Atlanta Hawks pic.twitter.com/n8w3J3fg9t
— David Hein (@heinnews) May 14, 2018
An elaboration from Dennis Schröder about the next few days and the up-coming talks with the @ATLHawks pic.twitter.com/kNAJhdnQ6J
— David Hein (@heinnews) May 14, 2018
Speaking at a German Basketball Federation DBB conference in Germany, Schröder expressed that he has a lot of good memories in Atlanta, but he must do “what’s the best for him.”
Schröd is planning to meet with the team in the coming days to discuss his role with the team going forward.
Though trading Schröder might seem like a panacea to listless Hawks fans looking for a quick fix, his hefty salary ($15.5 million per year until 2021) might be prohibitive for any teams looking to get an immediate influx of line drives to the basket and sub-30 percent shooting from distance – both of which Schröd could provide.
In the conference, Schröder said that the Pacers and Bucks are two possible destinations that he would be comfortable in going to, as they seem to have a stable roster and have potential to make some noise in the Eastern Conference going forward.
Dennis Schröder told a press conference in Germany that @Pacers (he has a good relationship with Victor Oladipo) and @Bucks would be teams he could imagine being traded to: pic.twitter.com/9d9QxBQ8Pj
— David Hein (@heinnews) May 14, 2018
Joining the Bucks via trade is particularly eye-raising with Mike Budenholzer’s name rumored to be the Bucks’ top choice to replace Jason Kidd/Joe Prunty as head coach. Schröder was famously “Coach Bud’s guy” on the Hawks, to the point that solid starter Jeff Teague was traded to open a starting point guard slot for Dennis in the 2016-17 season.
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This is a developing story, so stay tuned as more news become available about the future of Dennis Schröder on the Atlanta Hawks.