Detroit Pistons: 5 Andre Drummond trades
Trading Hassan Whiteside for Drummond and only sacrificing two first round picks would be an absolute steal for the Western Conference runners-up, the Portland Trailblazers. Whiteside is a filler at center for the Blazers after Jusuf Nurkic’s horrendous leg injury. Although many have returned from a leg break, Nurkic’s leg break was a lot worse than expected and he will most likely not return until February.
Even after he comes back, Nurkic most likely won’t be up to full speed and will need time off, Drummond allows for this. After a few solid years in Miami, Whiteside went AWOL and was a shadow of himself and the dreaded question of his motor has been brought up, but the Blazers decided to risk it and trade for him. This is most likely a rental and flipping him for an All-Star center in Drummond for the price of another two first round picks would be a bargain for the Blazers.
Even at a minimum of keeping Drummond in Portland for only a season, he would allow Nurkic to take the season off and come back at full strength. The Trailblazers are one of the more solidified contenders in the league so giving up two first round picks to get close to winning a title, or even winning it is a small price to play.
More from PistonPowered
- Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
- Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
- The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
- Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
- Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?
If this year it doesn’t pan out, then the Blazers could pay Drummond and trade CJ McCollum and Nurkic for another All-NBA player to make a different big three. A starting lineup of Damian Lillard, McCollum, Rodney Hood, Zach Collins, and Drummond is a championship-or-bust type of team. Drummond brings the extra rebounding that Nurkic lacks at times. Similarly, to all of the other trades, Drummond’s offensive rebounding skills means more buckets for the elite Lillard and C.J. McCollum, and second chance points win championships.
How the Pistons change
On the Pistons side of this trade, this is obviously a trade to start the rebuild. All of the things that people don’t like about Drummond are even worse with Whiteside, the lack of a motor at times, and a severe lack of an outside game. This would be the beginning of the end for the Pistons win-now mentality. This would either start the “Build around Blake idea” or finally begin the rebuild and would cue the Pistons to deal Griffin to another contender for a young player and a pick or multiple assets like that.
Griffin’s value is at an all-time high and as much as it will hurt to watch for the next few years, the greatest return he will ever fetch will be this season. Having Whiteside at the starting center role with the addition this summer would most likely be a carbon copy of last season. That copy would be another year of backing into the playoffs and getting swept by an actually good team or it would have the Pistons enter the lottery in hopes of getting a generational talent.