RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Who says that August is the NBA's dead time? We have a Friday afternoon trade to report: the Cleveland Cavaliers are trading Dennis Schroder and cash to the Charlotte Hornets for Tre Mann , according to ESPN . The deal marks the ninth time Schröder has been traded in his NBA career, making him the second-most traded player in NBA history behind Trevor Ariza , who was dealt 11 times. This will be Schröder's 12th NBA team , trailing only Ish Smith , who played for 13.
So, how did both sides do in the deal? Let's grade it to find out:
This is a setup trade for Cleveland; we just don't quite know exactly what it's setting up. Schröder is set to make $14.8 million this season, and he has a $4.4 million guarantee for the 2027-28 campaign. Mann will make only $8 million this season, and his $8 million team option for the 2027-28 season contains no guaranteed money.
These savings bring the Cavaliers to around $29.6 million in first-apron room for this season. That's less space than you'd think, though, because it does not include James Harden , who remains unsigned. When the dust settles, Harden will presumably stick around for something in the $25-30 million range. Sign-and-trades and the non-taxpayer mid-level exception create first-apron hard caps, so if the Cavaliers are trying to set up one such move, those are the figures to keep in mind.
Cleveland has been linked heavily to two notable remaining free agents this offseason. The first is Peyton Watson , whom they would need to acquire in a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets. Considering his next contract would likely come in at $20 million or more per season, the Cavaliers would have a lot more cost-cutting to do if they hope to acquire him.
Jonathan Kuminga , linked to the Cavaliers through his former working relationship with Kenny Atkinson when they were with the Golden State Warriors , would probably be a bit cheaper, but would still likely require some maneuvering. Harden is presumably allowing Cleveland some leeway as it seeks out improvements on the wing, but that doesn't mean he's taking some enormous discount. If Cleveland is making a substantial addition, it still has more work to do.
It has also created a bit of a hole at backup point guard. Atkinson's system has always relied on a ball-handling surplus, and it's not a coincidence that Cleveland's 64-win season two years ago came with Ty Jerome nearly winning Sixth Man of the Year. This just increases the ball-handling burden on the ever-durable Harden and Donovan Mitchell , whose playmaking took a pretty big step back last season. The Cavaliers are now leaning heavily on Mann, who struggled last season after returning from back surgery, and Craig Porter Jr. , whom Cleveland has never trusted with playoff minutes. Couple that decline with the losses of Dean Wade and Keon Ellis , and Cleveland's overall depth has taken a real hit.
It ultimately made sense to clear this money for Cleveland. When you owe an overpaid player money across multiple seasons and can move him without spending draft picks, doing so usually makes sense. But none of it matters until we know how Cleveland uses this newfound flexibility. For now, they've made themselves a worse basketball team. But if this is what it takes to create the room they'll need to add a wing, then doing so was well worth it.
The Hornets promoted their backup point guard, Coby White , to the starting job after they traded LaMelo Ball in June. That left them with a hole at backup point guard. In theory, they could have just handed the job to No. 18 overall pick Christian Anderson , who more cleanly fits their preferred, 3-point-bombing playing style, but instead, the Hornets will seemingly bring him along a bit more slowly. Schröder, who has ties to Hornets coach Charles Lee and president Jeff Peterson through their time together in Atlanta, will now give them a proven backup point guard.
The Ball trade created a ton of financial flexibility for the Hornets, and they've mostly used it to take on money in exchange for draft capital. They got three second-round picks for taking on Dorian Finney-Smith , and they needed to absorb Royce O'Neale and Grayson Allen to turn Miles Bridges into Phoenix's ultra-valuable unprotected 2033 first-round pick. Those moves still left the Hornets with around $27 million in room beneath the luxury tax line, which was plenty to add $7 million or so in the Mann-for-Schröder swap.
Given how successfully they've used their cap flexibility to add draft capital, it's a bit of a surprise that Charlotte couldn't walk away from this deal with at least a second-round pick. The Hornets didn't necessarily need to improve at backup point guard either. They're too good and deep to seriously fear the relegation zone, but considering the long view they take on roster-building, jumping into the Play-In Tournament wouldn't mean all that much in light of the lottery balls they would lose. You could argue they would have been better just playing Anderson and seeing what happens. At least doing so wouldn't have cost them money in the 2027-28 season.
But Peterson and Lee obviously know Schröder and believe he'll be a good culture fit. If nothing else, Charlotte's abundance of shooting should help him get to the rim plenty next season, and if he does, perhaps the Hornets will be able to flip him for value at the deadline. If his presence turns into a developmental aid for Anderson and the other young players here, it's a reasonable way to spend a small chunk of their remaining money.
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