Detroit Pistons: Looking ahead to potential trade deadline wishlist
The Drummond Isn’t Re-Signing Trade
If the season isn’t going well and the Pistons look like they will miss the playoffs by the deadline, Andre Drummond and the Pistons may look to part ways in the offseason when Drummond can decline his player option. If the Pistons sense that he may leave, they would do well to trade him for a young asset.
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Anfernee Simons is a young, high-ceiling guard who the Portland Trail Blazers are very high on. However, the Blazers just extended both of their star guards, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, and there is a real possibility that their title contention window is limited to the next couple of years.
With the uncertainty around Jusuf Nurkić’s injury, the Blazers may want to have a center that fits their timeline. Zach Collins has shown promise, but by the time he develops into the player the Blazers need, their window may be closing. Hassan Whiteside is a stop-gap center option, that I don’t believe to be in Portland’s long-term plan.
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Drummond would provide the ideal rim-running, offensive rebounding big to complement Lillard and McCollum, and Simons would be an exciting young guard to team up with Kennard and Bruce Brown. He’s an ideal young guard to begin a rebuild with considering his incredible upside.
The Hassan Whiteside addition would provide the Pistons with an expiring contract to play out the rest of the season. He wouldn’t be in the long-term plans, but he’d fill the hole left by Drummond’s departure as well as the necessary salary matching.