Detroit Pistons: Nets trade could be Troy Weaver’s first major mistake

Since being named the Detroit Pistons general manager a year ago, Troy Weaver has completely overhauled the roster. Weaver has made so many changes to Detroit’s roster in just one year that zero players remain from the previous regime.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Pistons have sent Sekou Doumbouya and Jahlil Okafor to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for DeAndre Jordan, four second-round picks, and cash.

Doumbouya, a 20-year-old prospect was, until Sept. 3rd, the longest-tenured player on the Pistons roster. Doumbouya joined the Pistons just one season before the arrival of Weaver to the front office. The 20-year-old was an extremely raw prospect who needed time to develop into his immense potential.

Now, Doumbouya will join a Nets squad ready to contend for a championship, and the young prospect is likely to warm the bench and spend time in the G-League for the majority of the 2021-22 season.

While Weaver has had a very solid track record so far in his time as the Pistons GM, he is not infallible. He is bound to make a mistake or miscalculation at some point in his time in Detroit. This trade with the Nets might be just that.

What was initially viewed as a major overpay for star forward Jerami Grant is now viewed as one of the best bargain contracts in the league. Weaver also traded for two additional first-round picks in a 2020 draft that was viewed as not very deep. That move ended up netting the Pistons two All-Rookie team members in Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey.

Weaver has never been one to shy away from taking what is perceived as a risk. In his time working for NBA front offices, the guy has proven to be a superb talent evaluator. But the second-year GM is not perfect and this might be his first major mistake.

Detroit Pistons: Buying out Jordan is going to put a hit on Detroit’s future cap space

DeAndre Jordan is not going to play in a Pistons uniform. Pistons fans can at least take solace in the fact that they will not have to deal with another Drummond-like player roaming around the court of Little Caesars Arena.

However, Detroit will have to pay Jordan some portion of his nearly $10 million annual salary over the next two years. That will only further harm their cap situation for the near future.

This is a franchise that had to continue paying Josh Smith through the 2019-20 season despite waiving him in 2014. Now they are paying Blake Griffin roughly $29.8 million this season after buying him out last year. They are also still paying Dewayne Dedmon nearly $3 million through the 2024-25 season after they waived and stretched his contract the previous offseason.

Weaver will now be adding Jordan’s money to Detroit’s dead cap. Continuing to have to pay players to not be on the team is not the ideal route Detroit Pistons fans wanted to go down. They have been scared enough from the Josh Smith debacle.

Taking on additional dead cap space is not necessarily a terrible move, but the return for Detroit is not exactly great.

Four second-round picks are cool and all, but one thing the NBA has proven is that they are practically worthless. NBA teams can trade cash considerations for second-rounders. They are often thrown in as filler on trade packages, and they get thrown around the league like no one wants them.

No, the Nets could not have offered any first-round picks in this trade, all of their first-rounders are tied up in the James Harden trade from last year. But that does not mean Weaver should have settled for second-round picks.

Detroit needed to make roster space in order to accommodate all of the players they wanted on their roster. They needed to open up one roster spot in order to make room for Hamidou Diallo who was the final player to re-sign with Detroit this offseason. Weaver did not need to take on a big contract in order to do so.

Simply releasing Okafor would have saved the Detroit Pistons a lot of money as the former first-round pick was only due $2.13 million for this season. Taking a much smaller cap hit for just a single season is a lot more appealing than nearly $10 million over the next two seasons.

Overall, four second-round picks in exchange for paying for Jordan’s buyout and Doumbouya is not remotely close to a beneficial trade package for Detroit. Those four second-rounders could very well end up just being used in a future trade as Detroit tries to dump salaries in an attempt to open up more cap space for themselves.

This trade also means that Weaver is quickly giving up on an incredibly raw but talented prospect in Doumbouya.

Detroit Pistons: Was trading Sekou Doumbouya really necessary?

Doumbouya was incredibly inconsistent in his two years with the Detroit Pistons. The 20-year-old showed flashes of his immense potential, but he would follow up those performances with absolute stinkers.

Doumbouya’s inconsistency combined with Detroit bringing in a lot of young talent this offseason led to speculation that he could be the odd man out in Detroit. That speculation would be proven true by this trade.

That being said, for as inconsistent as Doumbouya was, and for as much talent as Weaver brought onto the roster this offseason, the guy is still only a 20-year-old. It was well known he needed time to develop, and if his flashes of potential can become a game-to-game thing, Doumbouya could turn into a force to be reckoned with in the NBA.

But the 20-year-old power forward was the last remaining piece from a former regime, and Weaver had no ties or commitments to the young player. With those factors, it comes as no surprise that Doumbouya was one of the players chosen to be traded away.

It is no surprise but it is also not a great return for a former first-round pick, especially one this young. Four future seconds for Detroit to take the hit and pay Jordan his buyout is one thing, but throwing in a 20-year-old developing prospect on top is well beyond value Detroit should have given up.

Cutting Okafor or even trading Okafor for Jordan and a second-rounder or two would have made much more sense than trading away such a young prospect like Doumbouya.

Before this trade, there are very few roster moves made by Weaver that can be considered mistakes. Trading Bruce Brown away for Dzanan Musa and a second-round pick is the only clear choice one could make.

Like Doumbouya, Weaver sent Brown to the Nets, and the young defensive stud has thrived in his new role with Brooklyn. While the 6-4 do-it-all player signed the qualifying offer this offseason, he is likely to get paid a handsome contract next offseason.

The Brown trade may be the only move that Weaver looks back on and second guesses. He may not regret the trade, but Brown’s play with Brooklyn should at least make him think ‘what if?’.

Now Doumbouya has the opportunity to follow his former teammate to Brooklyn and take time to develop in the G-League and learn from one of the NBA’s best in Kevin Durant.

Doumbouya very well could become one of the players of the Nets’ future. Durant, Harden, and Kyrie Irving are all over the age of 30. The championship window is not going to be open forever. Once the team is forced to enter rebuild mode after their stars fade in the league, Doumbouya could be one of the next men up to take the torch and run with it.

Weaver has done a great job reshaping this Pistons roster. In the course of just one season, Detroit has gone from a rudderless franchise stuck in the NBA’s purgatory tier of mediocre teams to a team with one of the brightest futures in the league.

As Weaver continues to build this roster into a championship contender, there will undoubtedly be a few mistakes along the way.

One day, one of those mistakes could turn out to be sending Doumbouya away to Brooklyn, and restricting Detroit’s cap space by taking on additional dead money.

It is hard to truly judge a trade until players are able to play with their new teams or draft picks are made. Weaver is unlikely to ever regret this trade. It is unlikely he regrets any move he makes, good or bad. But ultimately, if Doumbouya starts to turn the corner on his young career, and Detroit finds itself in a sticky cap situation, Weaver may look back on this trade and second guess himself, even if it is for just a second.