Dennis Schröder Trade Was a Massive Success for Hawks and Thunder

What did the Hawks get back?

On the surface, the return of Carmelo Anthony and a 2022 first-round pick seems rather unimpressive.

Melo’s best days are behind him, and he would not have wanted to play for a team that’s expected to be among the worst in the league next season anyway. It’s wild to think that the Hawks traded for Carmelo then immediately released him, but that’s just where we are these days.

The 2022 first-round pick, on the other hand, is so far out that it doesn’t even seem as if exists yet. It’s also an intangible thing that has yet to turn into a substantive player.

Even after saying all that, that 2022 first round pick might be the best asset the Hawks have obtained in a long, long time, and, so far, is Travis Schlenk’s shining achievement in terms of transactional history.

Let’s explore that pick. By that time, four years from now, it is not beyond reason to expect the Hawks to be good. They will have selected multiple first rounders for 4 years in a row, and the growth of Trae Young, John Collins and Kevin Huerter will likely have buoyed the team’s outlook considerably by the 2021-22 season.

So, we can expect the Hawks to be challenging for a playoff spot or even be consistent playoff entrants by that point (if the rebuild goes according to plan for the next couple years).

On the other side of that pick, we can expect that Brodie (certainly) and Paul George (maybe) will still be on the Thunder in the 2021-22 season; though it must be noted that George’s salary that season is a player option, so if the situation looks dire, he might skedaddle to a better situation.

Even still, Westbrook is locked up for that season, and his abilities by themselves might be enough to get the Thunder into the playoffs. Sure, Russ will turn 34 in the 2021-22 season, but he will almost certainly still be an impactful player, and by that point, he might inspire his teammates as a talisman rather than an on-court whirling dervish of productivity.

All that adds up to say, that 2022 lottery-protected pick from the Thunder will likely convey to the Hawks that offseason.