When the Golden State Warriors traded for Dennis Schroder on December 15, they did so at the earliest possible time to ensure the veteran guard could be dealt again prior to the February 6 deadline.
The Warriors were lauded for that move because they had acquired a helpful piece while retaining full flexibility. If it didn't work out, they could simply explore another move and send Schroder on his way less than two months after acquiring him.
The Warriors are starting to feel a major negative impact from the Dennis Schroder trade
The partnership between Schroder and Golden State hasn't particularly worked, with the 31-year-old seeing his numbers plummet after an impressive start to the season with the Brooklyn Nets. He's also been recently moved back into a bench role, signifying that the move hasn't been overly effective as Steve Kerr searches for a consistent back court partner for Stephen Curry.
As a result, Schroder is now a candidate to be traded again. Sure, the Warriors did well to ensure that's even a possibility, but it's also now hampering them because he's not trade eligible until February 5.
That gives Mike Dunleavy Jr. a very short window in which to make a trade, with the assumption that Schroder and his $13 million expiring deal is likely to be involved in any big salary move Golden State make.
Sure, the Warriors and another team could agree to a deal in theory, but nothing is official until it's actually signed off. In the meantime, what's stopping the other team from going out and exploring other deals involving the player they're looking to trade?
For example, if the Warriors ultimately wanted to trade for Zach LaVine, it would have almost assuredly included Schroder. Therefore a deal couldn't have been completed for a couple more days, and in the meantime Golden State are too late anyway because the Bulls have just sent LaVine to the Sacramento Kings as part of the De'Aaron Fox trade.
So while being able to re-trade Schroder was initially seen as the Warriors retaining flexibility, it's now potentially hindering their ability to make deals. Instead of everything going down in the final 24 hours before the deadline, we've seen two blockbuster trades involving four All-Star players multiple days beforehand.
Would things have been different with LaVine if Schroder was able to be traded now rather than later in the week? Maybe not. But it certainly isn't helping the Warriors who are now running out of options after Jimmy Butler rejected the franchise in another notable update from an unparalleled weekend of trade news.