Here’s the thing with “Strength in Numbers.”
You need numbers.
And lately, the Warriors have been lacking in that department.
De’Anthony Melton’s season-long injury and the NBA’s endemic string of absences left the Warriors running a — gasp — nine-man rotation in recent games.
This team needed reinforcements, and it got one on Saturday, trading the injured Melton and some second-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for firebrand German point guard Dennis Schröder.
Anthony Slater of the Athletic first reported the news.
The Warriors’ interest in Schröder is hardly new; the guard has been a thorn in the Dubs’ side for years. It’s not quite “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” for the Warriors, but there’s sound logic in enlisting the players who annoy you most to play.
Schröder will bring much of what Melton was meant to provide Golden State that it’s almost eerie. Their roles should be identical.
The German is a willing and effective 3-point shooter who can play both on- and off-ball on offense. And, my goodness, he is a pest on defense. He’s only 6-foot-1, but he has a 6-foot-8 wingspan, and he’s as sharp as a tack on the court. His errors are ones of commission, not omission.
There is absolutely zero downside to this trade in a vacuum. A couple of second-round picks for a perfect Melton replacement (or perhaps even an upgrade)? The Warriors will never think about those picks again.
The question isn’t if Schröder is a good pick-up for the Warriors. He absolutely is, and Saturday’s business was high-grade work from Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. For a negligible cost, the Warriors are just as good as they were before Melton’s injury. Last time I checked, the Warriors were in first place in the West before Melton was sidelined for the season.
Such lofty seeding is no longer on the table for this team — the early-season boost has been extinguished.
Returning to that form is certainly a good idea. It beats the 5-8 record the Warriors have posted since Melton’s exit.
But is a good trade good enough for the Dubs to turn this season into something truly special?
Is adding a strong depth piece — a closer — like Schröder going to solve the Warriors’ most significant issue, which is a lack of a clear-cut No. 2 to Steph on offense in crunch-time scenarios?
I can say this: Schröder isn’t going to shy away from the big moment. He wants to have the ball in his hands in such a circumstance.
Again, errors of commission.
But while I think he’ll mitigate some of this team’s issues, I don’t believe Schröder is the answer to the Warriors’ No. 1 problem, the lack of a No. 2.
And what makes this tricky is that after Saturday’s deal, the Warriors are, in all likelihood, done shopping the trade market — specifically for a big-name, big-game player — this season.
Melton was the team’s key trade piece in making any such deal happen. Without his salary to help match salaries, the Warriors cannot reasonably trade for Jimmy Butler, Zion Williamson, or LeBron James. Not without gutting the team as we know it. (Even with Melton as part of a deal, a gutting might have been unavoidable.)
So this is it — the likely final form of the 2024-25 Warriors.
It’s a team that’s certainly good enough to make the playoffs. From this point on, they’ll win more games than they lose.
But is it a team good enough to do anything serious once the playoffs begin? I don’t see it.
Perhaps Schröder will surprise us and take his game to another level. Maybe his ninth NBA team is the one that can fully unlock the superstar talent he knows himself to have.
Color me skeptical.
Don’t get me wrong: landing Schröder is a positive for the Warriors.
But while the price was right in the transaction with the Nets, the opportunity cost was immense, and it caps on how successful this Dubs season can eventually be.
Trading for Schröder made the Warriors better, but now they can’t be great.