Like every team in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons have an up and down history when it comes to trades.
Yesterday we looked at the Pistons’ best trade ever with the Celtics, which was a no brainer that paid immediate dividends.
Sometimes trades pay off right away, and sometimes they pay off down the road, and in the case of this trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, it was both.
The trade not only led to a few of the best individual scoring seasons in Pistons’ history, but eventually brought one of the key players of the Goin’ to Work era.
Detroit Pistons: Best trade in team history with the Philadelphia 76ers
The Pistons have made 8 total trades with the Philadelphia 76ers dating back to 1958, but the one that happened on December 18, 1997 was the best one for Detroit:
Even though Jerry Stackhouse played well for Philly and was dubbed “The Next Jordan” by some, the 76ers were horrible while he was there and had just drafted Allen Iverson.
Philly coach Larry Brown decided the Iverson/Stackhouse pairing couldn’t work so shipped him out for two role players in McKie and Ratliff.
Stackhouse played 5 seasons for Detroit, made the All-Star game twice and averaged 29.8 per game in 2000-1 narrowly missing out on the scoring title behind former teammate Iverson.
The trade made sense for Philly at the time and they did get a Finals appearance out of it, but it seems like they should have been able to get more for Stackhouse, who was one of the best scorers in the NBA and still holds the record for most points scored in a game (57) by a Piston.
The best part of this deal is that the Detroit Pistons were able to eventually flip Stackhouse for Richard Hamilton, who became a key part of their championship team.
This is one of those rare trades that worked out for both teams in the short term, as Stackhouse did take the Pistons to the playoffs three times in his time in Detroit including to the conference semi-finals in 2002 with a 50-32 record.
The trade opened up room for Iverson to win an MVP, so it worked out for Philly in the short term as well.
But the Detroit Pistons ended up getting the best end of this trade, which eventually led to one of the best players of the Goin’ to Work era. Thanks Philly!