The Golden State Warriors moved to solidify their back court rotation in recent days, trading for Dennis Schroder in a deal that cost them De'Anthony Melton, Reece Beekman and multiple second-round picks.
Most have lauded the trade for the Warriors ahead of Schroder's team debut on Thursday, having paid a small price for the veteran guard who averaged over 18 points and six assists to start the season with the Brooklyn Nets.
Is Dennis Schroder's acquisition an admission the Warriors made the wrong decision with Klay Thompson?
One of those who like the move is former Warrior guard and 3x NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, but the 11-year NBA veteran believes that trading for Schroder is an admission from Golden State that they got the Klay Thompson situation wrong.
Speaking on Gil's Arena after the trade, Arenas thinks the Warriors shouldn't have placed so much faith in second-year guard Brandin Podziemski.
"I actually like the move. I mean it kind of tells Klay that 'sorry brother you was right. We shouldn't have put all our eggs on Podziemski because goddammit he ain't it.'"
The Warriors trading for Schröder tells Klay Thompson that they were wrong ☹️ pic.twitter.com/BnEj7soyLb
— Underdog (@UnderdogFantasy) December 17, 2024
The Thompson-Podziemski debate has resurfaced over recent days after the Dallas Mavericks came to Chase Center and beat Golden State 143-133 on Sunday. Thompson had arguably his best game of the season with 29 points on 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range, while Podziemski went viral for the wrong reasons after an ugly play in the third-quarter where he was stuck in the corner and eventually threw up an airball.
Podziemski and Thompson will forever be connected given the former took the starting shooting guard role from the franchise legend in a controversial move just prior to last season's All-Star break. However, that's not to say that Podziemski's poor form to start this season is an admission that the Warriors were wrong in not re-signing Thompson and ultimately allowing him to walk to Dallas.
It was Melton who was supposed to replace Thompson as the 3-and-D type guard in the back court, with that working well until the 26-year-old suffered a torn ACL in the first meeting against the Mavericks in November.
Podziemski has essentially replaced Chris Paul as the backup point guard, so trading for Schroder is the Warriors admitting they gave Podziemski to much responsibility in that role, rather than anything to do with Thompson.
Steve Kerr admitted that in a press conference on Tuesday, with Schroder set to run all the non-Curry minutes while also starting alongside the 2x MVP as the Warriors look to bounce back from their 2-8 record over the last 10 games.