In a full story for ESPN.com, Shams Charania reports that the Cavaliers, Hornets, and Dennis Schröder‘s agent, Mark Bartelstein, have been working together for the “past couple months” on the trade that will send the veteran point guard to Charlotte.
According to Charania, the Cavs are still in “constant” dialogue with free agent guard James Harden, who is expected to re-sign with the team on a new contract covering either two or three years. Harden declined a $42.3MM player option for 2026/27 in June that would have been partially guaranteed for $13.3MM.
Charania also reiterates that Cleveland, which will save about $6.8MM this season by trading Schröder and cash for Tre Mann, is pursuing free agent forwards Peyton Watson and Jonathan Kuminga. Watson of the Nuggets is a restricted free agent, while Kuminga is unrestricted.
Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscriber link) hears from sources that the Cavaliers will send the Hornets around $4MM in cash in the deal. As our tracker shows, Cleveland hadn’t sent out any cash in a trade this offseason until this deal, and Charlotte hadn’t received any back until now either.
The Cavs have spoken to “numerous” teams about a potential Schröder trade since around the time of June’s draft, according to Fedor, who reports that multiple clubs sought first-round draft capital to take on the German veteran’s contract. Instead, Cleveland was able to find a trade that didn’t require the team to give up any draft capital.
Schröder is owed $14.8MM this season and his $15.5MM for 2027/28 is partially guaranteed for $4.35MM, while Mann will earn $8MM this season, with an $8MM team option for ’27/28.