Michael Porter Jr. is suddenly emerging as a big-name trade target the Golden State Warriors could consider leading up to the mid-season deadline, yet the franchise's experience with Dennis Schroder in the past 12 months should provide a cautionary tale and a lesson on not reading too much into the numbers.
Porter is having an excellent start in his first year with the Brooklyn Nets, posting a career-high 24.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 48.7% from the floor and 38% from 3-point range. That's the kind of production the Warriors could do with to bolster an offense that ranks just 23rd in the league across their first 18 games of the season, but we also said the same about Schroder this time last year.
Warriors must learn Dennis Schroder lesson with their next trade target
The German point guard averaged 18.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists in 23 games with the Nets to start last season, shooting an efficient 45.2% from the floor and 38.7% from beyond the arc.
When Golden State acquired Schroder in exchange for the injured De'Anthony Melton and some second-round picks in December, it was assumed the veteran would quickly address an offense that had flat-lined following a promising start to the season.
The reality was, unfortunately, anything but. Schroder never found a rhythm despite being thrust into a starting role, having averaged 10.6 points and 4.4 rebounds on 37.5% shooting in his 24 games with the Warriors.
Golden State were 11-13 in those 24 games, while they were outscored by 130 points in Schroder's minutes on the floor which was nearly double the second-worst player in plus-minus for the entire season. It was a less than two month period that Warrior fans would like to forget, with Schroder traded again before the deadline in the blockbuster deal that brought 6x All-Star Jimmy Butler to the Bay.
Moral of the story: Don't let inflated numbers on bad, rebuilding lottery teams cloud your judgement. There's no chance that Porter would be putting up these numbers with Golden State when relegated again to a third option, rather than the freedom of being the lead offensive creator that he has in Brooklyn right now.
That's not to say that he couldn't be effective or valuable, but the numbers must be taken with a grain of salt. It's not just Porter that this must be applied to either. Trey Murphy III and Lauri Markkanen have been seen as ideal trade targets for the Warriors now or in the past, but you could argue their numbers too are inflated by being on lottery teams.
At some point it also comes down to desperation. The Warriors were slipping into a hole last season and quickly grabbed onto Schroder as a means of pulling them out. How desperate they get this time around will only be determined by what happens in the next two months.