The Detroit Pistons have four picks heading into the 2021 NBA Draft including the number one overall and three picks in the second round.
The Pistons will almost certainly use the first pick on Cade Cunningham, who has all of the talent to be the next superstar in the NBA.
The Pistons aren’t likely to add four rookies, so they could use some of their second-round assets and a player or two to try and move up into the first round if there is a player who Troy Weaver likes.
Weaver has already shown he can find talent in the mid to late first round after drafting Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey with the 16th and 19th picks in last year’s draft.
So if he can package some of the second rounders and perhaps a redundant player, we could see the Detroit Pistons move into the first round in 2021.
The Pistons would likely target a team that is in “win now” mode and doesn’t care about adding more young players, or a team that wants to stockpile as many picks as possible.
Here are four teams the Detroit Pistons could target for NBA Draft day trades into the first round.
Detroit Pistons draft picks: Trading with OKC in the NBA Draft
Oklahoma City has the 6th, 16th and 18th picks and I am sure Sam Presti is cooking up some deals as we speak.
The Thunder already have a team full of teenagers and may not want to add three more, but Presti also loves to hoard draft picks and young talent, waiting for his opportunity to strike with a blockbuster trade.
I already talked about a potential trade with OKC that would involve sending Sekou Doumbouya and a bunch of second round picks to OKC in exchange for the 16th or 18th pick.
Some fans are loathe to move on from Doumbouya, but he is the last player leftover from the previous regime and I could definitely see Troy Weaver shipping him out if he can use him to get a mid-first round pick.
This would be giving up on Doumbouya early, but it’s not like he was a top five pick or that the Pistons have invested much in him. Personally, I’d take my chances that Weaver could find someone better in a very deep draft.