Detroit Pistons: NBA Draft trades with the Thunder make little sense

In recent weeks, it has become incredibly clear that the Houston Rockets want to trade for the Detroit Pistons’ first overall draft pick. But another team down south appears to be making a run at Cade Cunningham. The Oklahoma City Thunder fan account @okcaccess proposed a trade on July 7th that was absolutely ridiculous.

The Detroit Pistons would part with the first pick and center Mason Plumlee. In return, the Thunder would send the 2021 6th and 18th overall picks, a 2022 first-round pick via the Suns, the Thunder’s 2023 first-round pick, Darius Bazley, and Isaiah Roby.

Both Bazley and Roby are young, inefficient benchwarmers who Detroit would rather not have. In return for one of the most hyped prospects in recent years, the Detroit Pistons can do a lot better.

Keep in mind that this is an Oklahoma City fan account. Most of the comments were along the lines of “we shouldn’t have to give this much up.” Excuse me? The only real pick of value there is the 6th pick. The last good players found at 18th overall were JR Smith and David West. Joe Dumars also went 18th overall, but the odds wouldn’t be in Detroit’s favor.

Detroit Pistons: It will take more than draft assets to get the #1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft

Weirdly enough, between all the OKC comments disapproving of the trade, a lot of people seemed to think that the draft capital in the mock trade was there, but the Thunder need to throw in a legitimately good player. Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were brought up.

In response to people calling him out over his trade, the owner of @okcaccess followed up with a new post a few days later.

Rather than proposing a new trade, the updated post simply called out Piston fans for their greed. It was suggested that the Rockets and Nets trade that sent superstar James Harden to Brooklyn saw less talent returned to Houston than OKC was offering up in the mock trade. This could be up for debate, as the Rockets received massive amounts of picks and swaps, as well as actual talent in Caris LeVert, who was promptly traded to Indiana.

Continuing, it was suggested that the last two trades for the first overall pick were less lopsided than this one. In 2017, Boston sent the first overall pick to Philadelphia for the third pick and a 2019 first-rounder. Back in 2014, the Cavs got Kevin Love and a 2015 first-round pick for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennet, both of whom had gone #1.

There’s a big difference between those two draft-related trades and the one proposed. Namely, the Celtics knew who their guy was and was 100% sure they could still draft Jayson Tatum at #3. In regards to the Cavs/Wolves trade, LeBron had just come back and Cleveland was pushing to win, not rebuild around Wiggins.

Despite the backing provided, the @okcaccess trade is completely laughable. It does something I rarely see mock trades do: neither side wants it to happen. Pistons’ fans say it’s too little, Thunder fans say it’s too much.

I don’t expect to please everyone, but there’s a much more realistic trade that could be pulled off. The Thunder need a center, so Plumlee simply has to be included in trade talks. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the best piece on an absolutely awful team. The Thunder could give him up, but then it would be too much to ask for the Pistons to also get the sixth overall pick.

I know, we all want both Shai and pick number six, but we have to be realistic, it simply won’t happen. The best trade I can come up with for both sides is the number one pick, Killian Hayes, and Mason Plumlee for pick #18, Shai, and the 2022 Phionex first-round pick coupled with OKC’s 2023 pick.

The Thunder would get to rebuild around Cade and have a serviceable young point guard, and the Detroit Pistons would immediately have one of the more deadly point guards to pair with Jerami Grant, Saddiq Bey, and new starter Isaiah Stewart. The additions of Bazley and Roby are unwelcome and frankly irrelevant.

I know Pistons fans won’t go for this trade, they want Cade, but in a top-heavy draft class Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is worth more than the sixth pick, and the Pistons would still receive a small bounty of picks to work with. Maybe you want them to add pick #6, or maybe nothing can convince you to trade the draft rights to Cade Cunningham. The NBA and its fans are coming up with crazy offers, Detroit fans can dismiss them or counter, but I know for a fact no one is going to take the first offers.