3 trades to bring drastic change to the Detroit Pistons

There’s not really a way to mince words. The Detroit Pistons, for the third straight season, are trying to tarnish the name of Dr. James Naismith. Based on their play during their nine-game losing streak, including an embarrassment at home to the Thunder, they are successful in their efforts. The Pistons are 29th in points per game, last in field goal percentage, 29th in offensive rating, 23rd in defensive rating, and 29th in net rating. The Detroit Pistons from 2019-2022 are having one of the worst stretches in NBA history.

The Detroit Pistons are rebuilding, but a less than satisfactory amount of discernible progress has been made. It might be time to blow the whole thing up. There’s a narrative around the league that some pieces are “untradable.” This might be true for Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, but the Pistons do not have anyone nearly close to the caliber of those guys. Cade Cunningham could very well become one of those players, and keeping him is worth the gamble, but at this point, Detroit fans should stop kidding themselves and realize that they are barely treading water in the NBA, and drastic change is overdue.

The last time the Detroit Pistons had a winning record was 2016. The Red Wings currently have a winning record but the last Detroit team to finish a season with a record over .500 was the 2016 Tigers. Detroit is one of 13 cities with four major sports teams, and they are far and away from the least successful in recent years.

We can sit around and talk about trading players like Josh Jackson for peanuts, but in the long run, how successful will trades like that make the team? I know, Pistons fans don’t want to shake the team up too much, but how else does a woeful franchise win? They can amass draft picks for several seasons, but the 76ers did that and are yet to make a Finals appearance, so maybe more immediate action should be taken.

Still, league-altering trades are hard to pull off and even harder to predict, but there could be merit in nabbing a franchise player away from a team that is fledging even with a star. The Pistons don’t have any star power and are instead touting out role players and expecting them to play like bonafide starters. Clearly, this has been a nightmare. Two players who either have been or could be All-Stars stand out as isolated on their current rosters, and for the right price the Pistons could nab them.