As the NBA trade deadline draws closer, it looks like a lot of teams are poised to make last-minute moves. The Detroit Pistons have several trade assets that could make them part of the conversation.
Most teams would look at the Detroit Pistons’ draft picks and speculate that they could score a lottery pick. There is absolutely no reason for Detroit to part with any picks in the near future, so any deal that involves a first-round pick is probably a non-starter. However, the Pistons have some guard talent, more than they know what to do with.
They could use it to get involved in a big trade.
Recently, Nikola Vucevic and LaMarcus Aldridge have been included in trade rumors and the Detroit Pistons might be able to get involved. The Pistons can drop some guards, add even more draft capital, and find some decent post players along the way.
Detroit Pistons: 3-team trade with the Magic and Spurs
Here is a trade that could work:
The Spurs would give Orlando Lonnie Walker IV and LaMarcus Aldridge for Vucevic, along with their 2021 and 2023 first-round draft picks. San Antonio would also ship Detroit Trey Lyles and Drew Eubanks, two bigger guys who can score from anywhere on the floor, but are not the best ball handlers, admittedly. The Spurs would receive Jahil Okafor and Delon Wright, and we would swap 2025 first-round picks with the Spurs, who are on track to have a slightly lower pick than the Pistons.
The Detroit Pistons would send the Magic Wayne Ellington and Josh Jackson. The Magic have a lot of guards but none of them are very good, so maybe they could develop in Florida. The Pistons would get Micheal Carter-Williams and a second-round pick from them, but in this year’s deep draft, that could be an asset.
While the Spurs are the clear winners of this trade, Detroit is a close second. They manage to shave seven million dollars off the cap, and don’t have to make a long-term commitment to any of the new players in case things don’t pan out.
The additional draft pick is always nice to have, and since the Pistons won’t be giving up any centerpieces of the franchise, they still have some freedom when it comes to the 2021 NBA Draft. Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, and Jalen Green would all still fit well with this new team.
The most intriguing part of this trade is gaining Micheal Carter-Williams. While his NBA career has been disappointing since his ROTY award in 2014, I think he would fit in very well with the Pistons’ offense.
He has proven he can be a scoring and defensive threat, he just simply cannot shoot the three at all. Every year, his attempts go up and they have not gotten any better. Dwayne Casey thrived in Toronto without a good shooter. Lowry and DeRozan were not stellar deep threats, so Casey knows how to coach this style of guard.
If the Micheal Carter-Williams experiment doesn’t work out, he’s only on a two-year deal, so the Pistons can drop him if we have to. With all of the new players being on short contracts, the Detroit Pistons can ditch them if they need to, save some money, and not trade away any draft picks.