"I'm not sure about the smarts of this trade by OKC vs the option of stretching Melo. They could've waived Melo and stretched his contract out over the next three years at $9.3M per year instead trading him for Schroder who will be on $15.5M per year for the next three years.
Essentially getting Schroder for just over $6M a year however if they decide to trade him at some point they might not find much interest at his true price tag."
Firstly, they're getting a useful player. If you waive and stretch Melo you have dead salary on the books for $9m.
Secondly, *if* they want to trade Schroder later, there is at least that possibility. You can't trade "dead" stretched salary.
So this move is all positive for the Thunder. The only difference is they pay $6m more per annum, but they are already way over the cap so the only question is whether ownership is happy to pay the tax. Which it seems they are.