Detroit Pistons: Potential landing spots for Blake Griffin

The long shots and the no-goes

Contenders that wouldn’t want Griffin

Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, Bucks, 76ers, Warriors, Nets:

Those teams already have elite players at Griffin’s position. Players like Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Al Horford, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Paul Millsap. Therefore, they have little incentive to spend additional assets to get a player like Griffin.

Denver is a special situation. While Griffin is a big upgrade over Millsap in a vacuum, a lot of the things he does on the court overlap with Nikola Jokic‘s game. They also share a lot of weaknesses, making them a poor fit together. In contrast, Millsap compliments Jokic on offense and covers for him on defense.

Golden State and Brooklyn are not contenders this year but they have injured players expected to return and hopefully help them contend next year. It’s tough to see the Warriors trading for Griffin with Draymond Green on the team but anything is possible.

Maybe a Curry, Thompson, Griffin, Green lineup is something they’d like to try and would be willing to offer D’Angelo Russell in the process. The Pistons should consider any trade involving Russell. Even a straight-up swap could make sense in theory. In the real world, a small salary filler would be included.

The Nets just don’t have the salary necessary to make a trade without including Durant or Irving. They could become a potential partner in the summer when Caris LeVert‘s contract extension kicks in. LeVert should already be in the Pistons trade target list.

He’s a perfect candidate to break out next year if he can stay healthy. When Durant comes back it’s possible that the Nets want to go all in and cash in their young talent for a veteran star like Griffin. A trade centered on LeVert plus Taurean Prince for Blake Griffin and draft compensation could be beneficiary for both teams.

Up and coming teams that don’t exactly fit

Hornets, Wizards, Cavaliers, Knicks, Pelicans, Raptors, Kings, Grizzlies, Bulls, Mavericks,  Hawks, Thunder, Magic:

Most teams on this particular list are just so far from contending that getting Blake Griffin for two-three years doesn’t do much for them, so they have little incentive to part with valuable assets. I’m pretty confident in saying that the Cavaliers, Knicks, Hornets and Wizards won’t be knocking on Pistons’ door.

The Pelicans already have Zion Williamson, who is basically “Big Baby Blake” and the Raptors, who are probably trying to get rid of their own veterans, have Pascal Siakam. Those teams probably wouldn’t want a star similar to their own but one that compliments them and forms a duo that fits well together.

Griffin doesn’t fit well with ball-dominant guards either. He fits with ball handlers that he can play off of but most importantly, can play off of him. He needs guards that can move well without the ball and shoot off the catch.

That’s why the Kings with De’Aaron Fox and the Grizzlies with Ja Morant shouldn’t be interested in Griffin. Especially when they have Marvin Bagley and Jaren Jackson Jr, players that fit their timeline as a team, playing power forward.

The Bulls are a team with a lot of offense and little defense. They also have Lauri Markkanen playing power forward, who they probably wouldn’t give up to get Griffin. Griffin and Markkanen sharing the floor is not much of an option either.

The Mavericks and the Hawks are in similar positions with Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and Trae Young, John Collins respectively. Their guards can move and shoot off the ball and play off of Griffin but they already have promising young power forwards.

Griffin can probably share a frontcourt with both Porzingis and Collins. They’re both versatile players on offense. However, defensively he doesn’t make much sense for them. Andre Drummond, actually, makes much more sense for those two teams but that’s a topic for the next piece.

It’s time to mention that any of these teams could be drastically changed in the summer and trading for Griffin becomes a real scenario for them. There’s so much unpredictability in the NBA that you can’t tell which teams will be in a good place to target a star a year in advance. That’s part of why the Pistons shouldn’t just dump Griffin’s contract without getting good value back.

The Thunder have Chris Paul. It should be a feature of the trade machine that any trade that sends Griffin and Paul on the same team should fail because that’s not going to happen. However, there’s a chance the Thunder are involved in a Griffin deal. As the third team.

Imagine this. A team wants Blake Griffin and is willing to part with a lot of valuable draft capital but also wants to get rid of their bad contracts. That’s a fair deal but the Pistons don’t want to carry bad contracts because they don’t want to full out tank.

They compensate the Thunder, to take the salary dump, with some of that draft capital and get Danilo Gallinari‘s expiring deal in exchange. They can resign Gallinari on a value contract in the summer or let him walk. Other teams, like the Grizzlies and Knicks, can operate in the same way, taking bad contracts and picks in exchange for expiring deals, like Andre Iguodala and Marcus Morris.

Finally, we have the weird roster construction of the Orlando Magic. Between Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac, Al-Farouq Aminu, Nikola Vucevic and Mo Bamba there are too many people that should not be playing small forward minutes but have to.

The Pistons should be interested in Gordon and Aminu as they address many of their problems on the floor but I’m not so sure as to why Orlando would be interested in a Griffin, Nikola Vucevic frontcourt. Maybe if Bamba breaks out, they can move on from Vucevic but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards right now.

Good teams that don’t exactly make sense

Rockets, Jazz, Pacers, Celtics:

These are the teams that could have interest in Griffin, as another star they can add to get to title contention status but the realistic trade scenarios don’t make much sense.

I’m sure that Utah would be thrilled to upgrade Bojan Bogdanovic but they won’t move Donovan Mitchell nor Rudy Gobert to do it. The Jazz are also over the tax line, so they can’t take too much salary back.

The Pistons should stay away from Mike Conley‘s contract, so no deals make actual economic sense. Without the situation drastically changing the Jazz won’t be able to trade for Griffin and they shouldn’t be trying to get themselves into that position either.

Houston could also use a ball-handler of Griffin’s size.He could potentially find great success in that offense, attacking with the floor spread out, much like Harden operates.

However, a Griffin-Westbrook swap doesn’t make much sense for Detroit and any scenario where the Rockets lose their best defensive players, P.J. Tucker and Clint Capela, probably takes them out of title contention.

The Pacers should have some incentive to get out of their funky frontcourt logjam. Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner don’t exactly fit perfectly together and Goga Bitadze is waiting on the bench.

Swapping Sabonis for Griffin could do wonders for their team in the short term and with Victor Oladipo and Malcolm Brogdon, both 27 years old, their time is now to contend in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

However, Sabonis is really good, which makes it hard for them to part with and most importantly, Drummond and Sabonis don’t fit at all. So, in any scenario where Indiana gives up either Sabonis or Turner to get Griffin, Drummond needs to be moved right after. That complicates the deal.

The Celtics don’t have much size in their frontcourt positions. While that may be by design, it’s going to hurt them in the playoffs when they’ll have to face huge teams like the Bucks and the 76ers. I think Drummond would be a great fit for them but this is not the place for that discussion.

Blake Griffin could also be a player they target. He can play power forward next to Daniel Theis and he can also play center in small-ball lineups with Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown switching everything.

On offense, he would replicate Hayward’s role but he would score at a higher volume and provide size for a team that really needs it. Detroit would get in Hayward a two-way wing, which is the biggest hole on the roster, and a primary ball-handler.

Hayward is not as good as he used to but he started the season extremely well and in much better condition. Which is why the Celtics won’t give up much to get Griffin. There’s also a big chance that they wouldn’t be interested in the trade at all.

Gordon Hayward is now injured and still has at least a month before he gets back on the court. Maybe that can make the Celtics more eager to move him in January if he is not yet back up to speed.

In any case, this is a lateral move from both teams addressing mostly positional needs. This is not the start of a rebuild. However, it’s a move that could happen. And it could help both teams.

Now, let’s dive into the moves that make the most sense now.