Warriors are about to trade for elite Nets guard Dennis Schröder: report

The Golden State Warriors appear to be on track to make a big move on Sunday when players signed over the summer become trade-eligible for the first time.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Warriors and Brooklyn Nets are in talks to complete a trade that would redirect the Nets’ starting point guard Dennis Schröder to Chase Center.

Sources inform longtime NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, currently writing for Substack, that Golden State intends to use Warriors shooting guard De’Anthony Melton’s expiring, $12.8 million contract as part of the deal resolve at a medium level. Melton underwent season-ending ACL surgery last month.

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Melton signed an agreement with the Warriors last summer after a run with the Philadelphia 76ers and will actually become trade-eligible on Sunday.

Fischer reports that the Warriors are expected to bring in two-way player Reece Beekman. At one point, Brooklyn’s best player, combo forward Cam Johnson, was also included in the deal, but now the deal is focused primarily on Schröder, according to Fischer.

Charania adds that the Nets will trade Schröder and a second-round draft pick to the Warriors in exchange for Melton’s contract and three second-rounders.

German-born Schröder, 31, has led the Nets to a surprisingly strong 10-15 record so far this year and is the No. 10 overall pick in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn is understandably hoping to bottom out before what is expected to be an intense 2025 NBA Draft.

Under new head coach Jordi Fernandez, Brooklyn looked shockingly good, albeit in the league’s JV conference. The 1.90 meter tall Schröder is averaging almost his career high of 19.4 points per game, which he achieved when he was still playing for the Atlanta Hawks in 2017/18. This year, he’s scoring 18.4 points on .452/.387/.889 shooting splits (that 38.7 percent mark on a career-high 6.5 triple attempts per night is also a career high), along with a career-best 6.6 dimes all-time with 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals in his 23 games for the club.

For the 14-10 Warriors, it’s unclear whether Schröder would even start alongside 10-time All-Star guard Stephen Curry. Melton had been the Warriors’ starting two-guard alongside the 36-year-old former two-time league MVP, but since his injury, 6-foot-10 combo guard Gary Paton II has started alongside Curry.

Schröder is also a deadly offensive point defender. With his versatile scoring and passing ability and an expiring $13 million contract, it seems at least possible that he could earn a starting opportunity.

Schröder has enjoyed a major career resurgence since hitting rock bottom as a little-used reserve with the Houston Rockets in 2021-22. He became the Los Angeles Lakers’ most critical point guard in 2022-23, on a roster that also included a prime D’Angelo Russell as well as an aging Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn at various points. Schröder had just helped LA reach the Western Conference finals in the spring and signed a lucrative two-season, $25.4 million free agent contract with the Toronto Raptors the following offseason. He was transferred to Brooklyn in mid-2023-24.

If that happens (which, as Charania, Stein and Fischer tell it, appears to be imminent), it represents an intriguing move for the Warriors. Even though Schröder may not be one of the All-Stars this year, often with the gold State, he’s a huge improvement over someone who’s done for the year.

Given that Curry turns 37 in March and has a ton of playoff miles under his belt (including six NBA Finals berths and four titles), it makes sense that Warriors team president Mike Dunleavy should try , maximizing his window with double the league’s MVP is still close to his peak. Schröder is currently improving the club’s backcourt rotation.

But Golden State will still have plenty of assets and could land a bigger fish in the months leading up to the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.

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