BREAKING: The Cleveland Cavaliers are trading De’Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings for Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis, sources tell ESPN. The three-team deal includes the Chicago Bulls acquiring Kings forward Dario Saric and two future second-round picks. pic.twitter.com/Hoc6bP0hhj
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 1, 2026
Cavaliers receive
- PG Dennis Schröder
- SG Keon Ellis
Kings receive
- SF De’Andre Hunter
Bulls receive
- PFDario Šarić
- two second-round picks
Cleveland Cavaliers grade: A
Dennis Schroder walks into a 6th Man of the Year slot Ty Jerome left behind. Donovan Mitchell playing the best basketball of his life off the Coco Puffs, Paul George high off some other shit, but Ty Jerome gave Mitchell a second to unclench his muscles and take a breath, knowing Ty would never tire reloading his bow and arrow, attacking defenses like a guy about to become too expensive to work in Cleveland anymore.
One of the most traded players in NBA history, it’s easy to understand why Dennis Schroder goes through slumps and highs, team-to-team, agents and GMs and teammates lying about how important and appreciated he is—none ever interested in working long term.
The Cavs rank 23rd in bench scoring—Lonzo Ball doing a reverse Ben Simmons, terrified of scoring in the paint, launching molotov cocktails at the rim. With Cleveland on national broadcasts weekly, playoff intensity when the street lights turn on, clawing back from a mountain they fell from, injuries slowly regenerating, they need Dennis Schroder and Dennis Schroder needs to show and prove.
DeAndre Hunter spent the season fighting off Harrison Barnes syndrome, losing the battle—shooting a lot, making a few, playing high-level defense when the mood struck.
Keon Ellis, a career 42% shooter from 3, spent the season eating screens so Zach LaVine or Russell Westbrook or literally anyone else on the team could switch onto a ballhandler about to teleport to the rim
Keon is newly equipped with the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and bonus 7-footer DLC. It’s the first time in his career Keon can summon rim protection.
Jaylin Tyson, Keon Ellis, Max Strus, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Sam Merrill and Dennis Schroder. That’s not a bad supporting cast, yo.
(This gets upgraded to an A+ if either Lonzo Ball is more productive with less responsibility or he’s traded this week. Lonzo kinda sucks.)
Sacramento Kings grade: A
If I’m trusting the process, the Kings are rebuilding in real time.
Instead of letting Keon Ellis become a restricted free agent and signing him to a long-term deal, they gave him a 1-year minimum and spent the extra cash on Denis Schroder.
Best case: those two guys star in their roles, helping Sabonis, LaVine and DeRozan reach their ceiling together, sneak into the playoffs.
Worst case: they lose with those two bums up to the deadline and flip them for an expiring $24 contract next season, to go along with Derozan’s expiring $24 million and Zach LaVine’s $48 million player option.
DeAndre Hunter, like everyone on the Kings, is good enough to make the games watchable—please continue paying your hard earned money to watch the Washington Generals—but they’ll have great odds to select a potential All-Star at the top of the draft, give the young man a season, with some real vets and either trade these guys or let them expire next summer, where they’ll most likely have another top draft pick—two young blue chip prospects and a ton of cash. A regular weekend for Rick Pitino.
This is the way.
Chicago Bulls grade: Who cares?
When serving as a salary dump destination, you’d hope to get a better return than two 2nd round picks but I feel like Dario Saric is a good vibes guy to finish the season with and for a team going into this summer with a lot of money to spend and no good players to spend it on, Chicago might need some of those 2nd rounders to become impact players.
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