Three players likely to leave Detroit Pistons this off-season
By Ku Khahil
Reggie Jackson
Okay, this is a bit of a hot take. But, also something I can 100 percent see happening.
Contrary to what many casual Detroit Pistons fans say, Reggie Jackson actually had a very impressive season. He played in 82 (86 if you count the playoffs) games this season, after missing a total of 67 games the past two seasons.
Jackson was moved off the ball a bit more this season and didn’t complain. Instead, he worked at his role and actually become pretty good at playing this role. Jackson shot a career-high 37 percent on a career-high 5.7 attempts from deep. The is highly impressive, even more so for a guy who is a career 33 percent shooter from deep.
He exhibited the explosion that we Pistons fans took for granted when during his first two seasons in Detroit. Check out the putback dunk he had in game four to close the half, that was sweet. Jackson had more dunks this year (14) than he did in his 2016 season (13) and more than the last two seasons combined (9).
And he got even better in the playoffs! He averaged 17.8 points per game, 7.0 assists to only 1.3 turnovers, and shot 43 percent from the field and 43 percent from deep.
Jackson had a bounce-back season and played extremely well for Detroit.
He also becomes an expiring contract in the off-season.
Now, the Detroit Pistons may look at Jackson’s bounce-back season and come to the belief that if he continues to play like that they don’t need to move him.
Or…
The Pistons could decide that Jackson having a bounce-back season and playing extremely well, combined with his contract expiring, could make his trade value the highest it’s been in years.
If I was the Detroit Pistons, I would take advantage of Jackson’s trade value currently and don’t risk it falling by the trade deadline.
Again, it wouldn’t be the worst thing if the Detroit Pistons just brought Jackson back, expecting him to play at the same level he did this past season.
But, I personally believe this would be Edge-like, an ultimate opportunity, for the Pistons to receive value in return for their starting point guard.