The Detroit Pistons trading Luke Kennard should never be an option

Now that the Detroit Pistons have entered their rebuild, trading away one of their rising stars should never be something that they explore.

Several days before the trade deadline, reports surfaced that the Detroit Pistons were in exploratory talks with the Phoenix Suns regarding Luke Kennard. However, just before the deadline arrived, talks fell apart and Kennard remained a Piston.

Any other result would have been catastrophic and borderline cataclysmic. It was speculated that an impasse was reached after the Suns were unwilling to part with their 2020 first round pick while leaving it unprotected.

Between that February 6th deadline and today, fans haven’t stopped speculating. Some believe that talks will start back up once the draft order is actually solidified.

This way, if Phoenix were to fall to a spot in the draft where they don’t feel comfortable that they could land the player they have their eyes on, they could instead swap the pick for Kennard, a player who’s becoming more and more established in the league.

So Detroit would wind up with two top ten selections in this years draft, which in theory sounds great.

Again, this is pure fan theory.

Given that this upcoming draft class has been largely considered underwhelming, the prospect of losing one of your most promising scorers in exchange for someone who may not make a sizable impact for years to come would be an tragic misfire.

At that point you may also be trading Kennard to avoid paying him. Which at that point could be viewed as questionable management. By drafting multiple lottery picks in the same year, all you’re doing is extending the time frame on those expensive contracts.

Eventually, you have to pay your players, and that’s most definitely going to be the case with Kennard. You cannot postpone extending your assets.

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Although his season was derailed on December 26th when the Pistons announced that he would miss an extended period of time with bilateral knee tendinitis, he had slowly begun to emerge as the play maker that fans knew he could be.

Teams were trying to slow down his shooting, but all it did was open up his skills as a facilitator.

Having a player who’s as versatile as Kennard is has to go beyond the idea of him being a movable piece. Had Detroit stayed healthy this season, he’d have been a top four scorer on the team.

His presence is always felt on the offensive end. His confidence is slowly rising as a ball handler and he’s begun to take strides with creating his own shot.

He’ll be eligible to sign an extension this summer, and in a free agency period where the Pistons will have more than enough money to pay him whatever they can, they absolutely have to get it done.

Trading one of your most promising assets for a coin flip in the draft is irresponsible. It’s delaying the inevitable and it’s how you remain stagnant as a franchise.

Kennard must remain in Detroit for the foreseeable future.