Dennis Schröder, Keon Ellis Make First Comments Since Deadline Move to Cavaliers

The trade, headlined by De'Andre Hunter to the Kings, came during a rather quiet deadline.

Schröder seemed pretty pumped about the trade. | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The NBA made good on some late-night trade deadline action on Saturday evening when the Cavaliers traded forward De'Andre Hunter to the Kings, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

In return, the Cavs received Kings guards Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis, while the Bulls took home Sacramento's Dario Saric and two future second-round picks.

Schröder, who is now headed to his 11th team after 12 full seasons in the league (2025-26 will be his 13th), reacted to the deal pretty shortly after news broke.

On X (formerly Twitter), the guard posted a simple message:

"CLEVELAND CAVALIERS," he wrote, tagging the Cavs' account.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS. @cavs

— Dennis Schröder (@DS17_FG) February 1, 2026

On Instagram, meanwhile, he added in a goodbye for Sacramento before once again hyping up his move to Cleveland.

"Thx Sacramento," he wrote, below a photo of him in a Kings uniform.

He then continued on the next slide: "Cleveland. LFG!!!"

Schroder reacted to the news of his trade with a post on social media. | Dennis Schroder / Instagram

Schroder had a fired-up message for fans of the Cavs after news of his trade broke. | Dennis Schroder / Instagram

Ellis also seemed to have an excited reaction to his move to Ohio.

The 26-year-old guard, a much-discussed acquisition at this year's deadline, posted a photo of himself in a Cavs jersey with the "smirk" emoji next to it, seeming to imply some contentment about what's happening next.

Keon Ellis also reacted on Instagram following news of his trade. | Instagram / Screenshot

With the deal, Cleveland gets out from under Hunter's contract, which will save them about $50 million in salary and luxury tax bills. Both Ellis and Schröder, meanwhile, will give the team some added depth at guard.

Schröder is averaging 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists this season, while Ellis has dropped an average of 5.5 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists.

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