The Chicago Bulls are watching their possible dream season turn into a nightmare, which could make them more desperate to trade for Jerami Grant of the Detroit Pistons.
The Bulls have been one of the NBA’s best stories, as they made the right offseason additions and have been the surprise leader of the Eastern Conference for most of the season.
But they have had horrible injury luck of late, with just about all of their key guys going down at the same time.
With the recent wrist injury to Alex Caruso (is there a more hated player in the NBA than villain Grayson Allen?), the Bulls are now missing Caruso, Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, Derrick Jones Jr. Devonte Green and Patrick Williams.
The Bulls have watched their 1st-place cushion disappear, have only won four of their last 10 games, and have dropped into a second-place tie in the Eastern Conference with the Miami Heat.
The Bulls have been one of the many teams rumored to be interested in a Jerami Grant trade, and may be more desperate to do so as their season potentially crumbles around them due to injuries.
The price for a Jerami Grant trade is going up and the Pistons can benefit
It is still not clear if the Detroit Pistons really have interest in trading Jerami Grant or if they are just testing the market to see what is out there.
The Pistons have all of the leverage in any deal, as they don’t have to move him and may be happy just keeping Grant and extending him long term.
He reportedly wants an extension in the 4 years/$112 million range, which may not be perfect but is certainly a deal the Pistons could stomach if that’s what it came to.
The real issue is that his value may never be higher, as the NBA is wide open and there are literally a dozen contenders who think a piece like Grant could push them over the top.
For the Bulls, Grant would be more a guy who could help halt their slide, as their perimeter defense has suffered without Caruso and Ball and Grant is the type of versatile defender who could help.
With every injury the price goes up, as a desperate trade partner is the best type the Pistons could hope for.
I’ve said in the past that the Bulls may have the best package for Grant, as they can offer a high-upside player on a rookie deal, an expiring contract, as well as a first-round pick. But now, the Pistons might just ask for another pick in any such deal and the Bulls might be desperate enough to say yes.
The addition of that second 1st-round pick would make this a very difficult deal for the Detroit Pistons to walk away from and may set Chicago apart from other trade suitors.
That Portland pick could very well end up just outside of the lottery, which would give the Pistons two potential top-20 picks in this year’s NBA Draft.
That means they could potentially grab one of the big three (Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren) as well as a shooting guard who is a better fit with Cade Cunningham.
Patrick Williams would more or less replace Jerami Grant and Detroit would be a free agent away from having a very interesting, athletic and dynamic team.
I am still on the fence about trading Grant, especially in a deal that doesn’t bring back a proven NBA player, but Williams would be a top-10 pick in this draft, so the Pistons would potentially be adding three more high-level talents, which is hard to pass up.
The next few weeks are going to be interesting as the Jerami Grant trade market continues to heat up and the Pistons start weighing offers for real.