Three trades the Detroit Pistons should make on draft night.

The Detroit Pistons will draft 15th overall in this year’s NBA Draft. Will the Pistons trade their pick? What are some trades that can potentially occur?

The Detroit Pistons will have to make a big decision on NBA Draft night. The NBA Draft will occur on June 20th and the Pistons will be selecting their young prospect with the 15th overall pick.

Many fans want the Pistons to select a wing player with high potential. Others want the pick traded away for a potential starter or a reliable rotational player.

Both routes can be a high-risk, high-reward type situation. If they trade the pick for a starter or rotational player, they could miss out on drafting an all-star type player. But if they draft at 15, they could potentially end up with a non-impact player.

This makes for a tough big time decision that Tom Gores and the Pistons have to make. It could potentially make or break their season. In this scenario, we will be looking at three trades the Detroit Pistons can make on draft night.

Pistons and Spurs make a deal

The Detroit Pistons will be drafting at 15 in this years draft. The Spurs have two first round picks. They will draft at 19 with their own pick and 29 with the Toronto Raptor’s pick that they acquired in the Kawhi Leonard deal.

Why would the Pistons be interested in trading with the Spurs?

The Pistons could potentially move down in the draft in a deal with the Spurs for multiple reasons. The potential of drafting not one, but two rotational players if they were to receive both first round picks from the Spurs is intriguing.

The Spurs would send the 19th and 29th overall pick to the Pistons for number 15. This would give the Spurs a better chance at drafting a potential future all-star. The last time they made a deal on draft night they landed Kawhi Leonard with the 15th overall pick. Maybe the Spurs go 2 for 2 on deals with the 15th pick.

Another trade they can make with the Spurs is acquiring big man Jakob Poeltl. The Pistons need a solid backup center behind Andre Drummond. Zaza Pachulia was not the answer the Pistons were looking for. And Thon Maker isn’t a reliable backup five.

Poeltl averaged 5.5 points per game and 5.3 rebounds on 64.5 percent shooting from the field with the Spurs. He played 77 games with the Spurs and started for 24 of them. Poeltl will enter his final year of his rookie contract.

The Spurs being the Spurs, might look to get rid of him while they still can. Instead of paying him, they could send the 29th pick and Poeltl to the Pistons for the 15th overall pick.

Mike Conley to the Motor City

As many Pistons fans are sick of hearing, Mike Conley would is likely going to be traded on draft night. The most likely trade partner? The Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons have been interested in Mike Conley for months now. The Pistons and Grizzlies were reportedly working a deal that would have sent Mike Conley to Detroit before the NBA Trade Deadline. That deal would eventually die out. The Memphis Grizzlies asking price was reportedly higher than teams were willing to strike on a deal.

But with the NBA Draft Lottery, the Memphis Grizzlies were able to move up in the draft. They will be selecting 2nd in the draft.

Reggie Jackson had a career year for the Pistons. He averaged 15.4 points per game on a career high 36.9 percent shooting from three. He fit his role well spacing the ball next to Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond. And most importantly he had a healthy season and played all 82 games. This was a huge plus for the Pistons. They needed him to play well and stay healthy; and he did.

But obviously the Pistons would like any upgrade from the starting point guard position. Insert Mike Conley.

Reports have come out that they will be selecting point guard Ja Morant. With Memphis in a rebuilding situation, it makes sense that the Grizzlies would like to trade Conley before next season.

Pistons would send Reggie Jackson, Jon Leuer, and the 15th pick for Mike Conley. This would clear 30 million dollars in cap space in the 2020 free agency for the Grizzlies. And they would also get a young prospect with the 15th pick.

Kris Dunn and Denzel Valentine to Detroit?

The Pistons need to improve in multiple areas this off-season. Two of the main issues are backup point guard and three-point shooting. So the Pistons are getting a backup point guard that can shoot from the Bulls? Not necessarily

The Pistons would be looking at getting not one, but two players from the Chicago Bulls. Kris Dunn has been in rumored deals with the Lakers and Lonzo Ball. There has also been reports that Dunn’s value has mightily fell.

Dunn only played in 46 game this season. He averaged 11.3 points per game and 6 assists on 35.4 percent shooting from three. Those are pretty good numbers. But his health remains an issue. Dunn is going into his fourth and final year of his rookie contract. He could fit well as a backup point guard behind Reggie Jackson in Detroit.

The Pistons have had an issue with their backup point guard position. Ish Smith was solid for the Pistons. But the Pistons would rather part ways with him in free agency due to his lack of three-point shooting.

Dunn is also a good defender. He can fill the defensive duties that both Ish Smith and Reggie Jackson couldn’t.

Denzel Valentine could also be apart of the deal. Valentine is also entering the final year of his rookie contract deal. He averaged 10.2 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists on a career high 38.6 percent from three.

Denzel Valentine could find his way back in Michigan if a trade were to go down.

The Pistons desperately need a shooter. And Denzel can fit that role with the Pistons. The Pistons would package the 15th overall pick, their 45th overall pick, and Langston Galloway for Denzel Valentine and Kris Dunn.