By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

In a blockbuster move that stole headlines all across the United States of America, the Atlanta Hawks traded for Oklahoma City superstar and future NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony.

Okay, that might have been disingenuous way to start this article but I just couldn’t resist.

Plus, it’s technically true. Melo was sent to the Hawks from the Thunder. It’s just there’s a caveat that Melo won’t be donning an Atlanta jersey anytime soon. Or ever, probably. Let’s back up a little bit, shall we?

It was pretty much the exact moment after the sound of the buzzer that ended the Finals faded away that the rumor mill started cooking up the notion that Dennis Schröder was not long for Atlanta.

Schröder himself stoked the flame by removing all mention of the Hawks from his social media (granted that has never meant anything relevant, but it was noteworthy at the time).  Turns out, those prognosticators were right and Schröder has left Phillips Arena, never to return again. Except as a visitor from the Midwest, of course.

The visiting team will have to be the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Schröder was shipped off to in exchange for Melo, one of the biggest NBA stars of the century, as well as a 2022 first round pick.

The Philadelphia 76ers contributed to the swap as well, sending Justin Anderson to Atlanta and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to Oklahoma City and receiving Mike Muscala, also from Atlanta.

To be fair, while this was a headline-grabbing trade due in large part to Anthony’s involvement, it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise for those paying attention. It seemed inevitable that the Hawks would make a move like this one.

And it’s a doozy. In a good way. They acquired some breathing room in their salary cap going forward and in turn gave themselves plenty of routes to play with their roster.

For the more immediate future, Muscala and Schröder will be missing from the roster, and that is not a benefit. They managed to keep the Hawks afloat last season, or as much as the Hawks could be kept afloat, anyway.

They have been Atlanta staples for the past several years and with good reason. They were consistent in their performances on the court, in the regular season and in bright spots during the playoffs.

But despite the hurt that their being traded will reign down on the team’s quality, let’s not forget that this is a rebuild and eggs must be broken before omelets can be made.

This was a trade for the future and that draft pick is half the battle. The other half is Justin Anderson. Anderson is a young player with potential that Philadelphia failed to unlock.

This was also a trade for financial flexibility so that the team can maneuver as needed in the months to come, having less than half of the $109 million they can spend committed for the 2018-2019 season.

That’s three goals: draft pick, young talent, cap space, accomplished in one fell swoop.

There’s no way to argue that this is a trade that made the Hawks better for the upcoming campaign, it did not. It made them worse.

But that’s okay, because they weren’t very good to begin with and this trade, while immediately detrimental to the team’s win-loss prospects, sets Atlanta up for the future in a big and bright way. It’s the kind of trade that needed to be made, and Atlanta pulled the trigger at seemingly the right time.

Oh, and Carmelo Anthony was immediately waived. Had to get that salary cap space. Sorry.