Within minutes of the Atlanta Hawks’ draft-day swap with the Dallas Mavericks, which netted Atlanta highly rated point guard Trae Young, the buzz started around the league:
How is Atlanta to trade point Dennis Schroder? In an interview with a publication back in his native Germany, Schroder seemed to hint at wanting to be traded even before the draft, with Young in the fold and a youth movement in the ATL, shipping out Schroder makes even more sense.
Not so fast, Hawks GM Travis Schlenk and new coach Lloyd Pierce said at a press conference this week — they expect Schroder to stay with the team (quotes courtesy the AP).
Schlenk said at the press event introducing the Hawks draft picks he talked with Schroder about the quote and said “they just took snippets of his answers.”
“Talking to Dennis, he’s excited,” Pierce said. “He was excited about who we were going to end up with in the draft and he’s excited about where we’re headed...
“I think Dennis will be a tremendous role model,” Pierce said. “We’ve talked already about him and Trae not only co-existing but him being a leader for Trae and helping him on the court.”
Good teammate and mentor is not Schroder’s reputation around the NBA. That said, if the Hawks want to trade him Schlenk doesn’t want to drive down Schroder’s value by saying as much.
Schroder may be on the Hawks to start next season, simply because there is no market to trade him. Schroder is a good point guard on offense who has never lived up to his defensive potential, but he’s a quality NBA rotation player. The problem is he is owed $46.5 million over three fully guaranteed years after this one, and a lot of teams feel set at the point guard spot. Finding a team looking to pay Schroder starter’s money and with a starting spot open is limited to non-existent.
Aside maybe shopping Schroder, don’t expect the rebuilding Hawks to be active in free agency.
“We will not be quickly out of the gate looking to sign guys,” Schlenk said Monday, when the Hawks introduced their three first-round draft picks, guards Trae Young and Kevin Huerter and forward Omari Spellman.
“We’ll kind of sit back and see what the market dictates. ... We’ll kind of play a waiting game and see how the market plays out.”