The Detroit Pistons will have four picks in the upcoming NBA Draft and could use them in a number of ways.
They will certainly use the number one overall pick to draft the best player, which looks to be Cade Cunningham, a huge and dynamic point guard who does everything well.
He and Killian Hayes would form one of the best young backcourts in the NBA right away, so this makes sense for the Detroit Pistons no matter how you look at it. Cunningham is not only the best player but might be the best fit since he can play four positions and gel with almost any lineup combination.
So what about the three second round picks? The Pistons don’t have enough roster spots to add another four rookies, so they might look to trade them for future picks or package them together to try and move up, which is what I would like to see.
Here is a trade that would get the Detroit Pistons into the first round of the NBA Draft, where Troy Weaver can try to work his magic as he did with Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart.
Detroit Pistons: The Pistons should target Oklahoma City in an NBA Draft trade
The Oklahoma City Thunder also have a ton of NBA draft picks, including the 6th, 16th and 18th picks in the first round.
They also have the 34th and 55th picks in the second round, so Sam Presti is going to be busy and no one is really sure what he is going to do.
Here is a trade that might pique their interest:
In this trade, the Pistons send out 20-year-old forward prospect Sekou Doumbouya and all three of their second-round picks in exchange for one of OKC’s 1st rounders.
The trade makes some sense for both teams in their respective rebuilds, but would either one actually do it?
Detroit Pistons: An NBA Draft trade for Sekou Doumbouya
Sam Presti loves to collect NBA Draft picks but would he really want three more second rounders in the same draft?
The Thunder already have too many picks to use, so Presti would only do this if he had another deal in mind and needed some more draft assets to get it done.
He also seems to like to take chances on young, high-ceiling talent, so may have some interest in grabbing Doumbouya as a project to add to his talented young core.
A lot of this would obviously depend on how Presti viewed Doumbouya versus whoever they could draft at 16, and whether he would be able to use those second rounders to make more deals.
I think the incentive for the Thunder is far less than the Detroit Pistons, so it may cost the Pistons more future picks to move up this much, as those second-round picks aren’t that valuable.
You never really know what the Thunder are going to do, but this seems like a Presti-type move and one the Detroit Pistons would likely have some interest in, even if they had to throw in additional assets.
Detroit Pistons: Trading Sekou Doumbouya to move up in the NBA Draft
Sekou Doumbouya is the only player currently on the roster that wasn’t either drafted or acquired by Troy Weaver via free agency or trade.
Weaver clearly wanted clean slate and got one by trading away most of the veterans and starting over with a young core that fits the vision he has for this team.
Does Doumbouya fit that vision? The Pistons have given no indication that he is part of the long-term plans and he is going to have a hard time getting minutes away.
Also, Weaver has shown himself to have a great eye for talent, so would probably think that he can get a better player than Doumbouya with the 16th pick in a loaded draft.
Guys like Keon Johnson and Jared Butler are projected to go in that range but there will be a load of talented players still left to choose from.
I don’t know if OKC would be interested in more picks and more youth, but given the team they have, Doumbouya fits the timeline well and they’d be banking on him improving with an increased role and more minutes than he is going to get on the Detroit Pistons.
This is the type of trade Weaver will look to make, as he doesn’t have enough spots for four more rookies and would love to get a chance at a second 1st-round pick.