Detroit Pistons: Why turning down OKC’s NBA Draft trade was smart

Every day seems to bring a new NBA Draft trade rumor involving the Detroit Pistons.

Part of this is just media doing our thing, as these are compelling conversations that people want to have and the other part is just teams posturing to hide their true intentions and not give anything away.

The most recent rumor had the Detroit Pistons connected to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The specifics of the offer were not given, but most people assume that some combination of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the 6th pick were involved.

If so, this is one of the better potential offers out there, as SGA is a legit star and the Detroit Pistons could still get a talented player like Scottie Barnes with the 6th pick.

Even though this offer isn’t bad, the Detroit Pistons should still walk away, as there are too many reasons to just take Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.

Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham is going to be superstar

The first reason to turn down this offer is that Cade Cunningham may end up being better than Gilgeous-Alexander before their respective careers are over.

Cunningham has superstar potential on both ends, and while SGA is already a star, is he really going to get much better? He’s an elite scorer but not defender, so Cade might end up being the more impactful player.

Cunningham is bigger and stronger than SGA, is already a very good 3-point shooter (something SGA has only recently added) and just has that “it” factor you are looking for in a franchise cornerstone.

This is no offense to SGA, as he is one of the best young players in the league and destined to be an All-NBA talent at some point, but I just think Cade has a higher ceiling when you factor in size and defense.

There is also the matter of money.