Should the Detroit Pistons go after Marquese Chriss?

Marquese Chriss was placed on waivers by the Golden State Warriors. Should the Detroit Pistons be interested while risking their youth’s development?

Marquese Chriss seeks his fifth team in his fourth season after being waived by the Golden State Warriors, and the Detroit Pistons could be a landing spot.

Multiple reports said Chriss is being waived to clear salary for Damion Lee to sign a season-long contract from a two-way deal. It was first reported by Yahoo!’s Chris Haynes.

Chriss, 22, was selected eighth overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2016 NBA Draft. This season he’s averaging 7.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward has improved at both ends of the court, producing negative offensive win shares in his previous two season and up to 0.8 through 36 games this season. He also has 0.7 defensive win shares and a 2.2 defensive box-plus/minus.

trade rumors. Best trade each rumored team can offer for Drummond. light

Detroit is in an interesting situation with Andre Drummond likely on his way out before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Blake Griffin is going to be reevaluated and is considering season-ending knee surgery. Both would leave the frontcourt thin with an injured Markieff Morris, developing Christian Wood and fringe rotational player in Thon Maker.

Sekou Doumbouya has started three straight games and scored in double figures in those games. The first two were double-doubles, despite matching up against Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green. In the third start he went up against LeBron James.

Adding Chriss could take away minutes from Doumbouya, who is the future of the Pistons, and Wood, who could turn in to a solid rotational player down the road. But who’s to say that Chriss couldn’t figure into those plans, too, especially to finish out the season.

More from PistonPowered

There’s no guarantee the Pistons would land Chriss if they placed a waiver claim on him. If no teams placed a claim on him, Detroit could sign him in to a minimum contract for the remainder of the season. It could even turn into a long-term home.

But Chriss isn’t the best fit necessarily. He would slot in at center due to his limited range. He’s only shooting 19% from 3-point range and is at 29.2% for his career. Though it’s been rather inconsistent.

Chriss could benefit from joining the Pistons, who have the league’s third-best 3-point percentage this season, shooting 37.2%. Through 37 games this season, eight Pistons are shooting a career high from 3-point range, including Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Tony Snell, Morris, Langston Galloway, Tim Frazier, Christian Wood, Thon Maker and Bruce Brown.

A large part of that comes from consistently shooting perimeter shots during the offseason, but Chriss could spend extra time with the Pistons working on his range and could develop into a future for the Pistons.

Next. 3 reasons why the Pistons should move Drummond. dark

But it seems like an unlikely proposition with no roster spots available and potentially jeopardizing the development of Doumbouya and Wood.

Home/Pistons News