Detroit Pistons: A potential Jerami Grant trade with the Pelicans

Detroit Pistons: Trading Jerami Grant to the Pelicans

New Orleans Pelicans

Temple is washed and Devonte’ Graham was pretty much out of the rotation for the Pelicans by the end of the season, so these are two guys they would love to get off their books.

Grant would not only give New Orleans another versatile and long forward, but he can shoot the 3-ball, be the primary scorer in short stretches and give them some insurance for Zion Williamson.

Williamson is expected to be back at full strength, but the Pelicans would be foolish to go into next season without some sort of Plan B. Grant could be a super-sub for the Pels, playing multiple spots, getting a lot of minutes and improving their perimeter defense. Zion is not likely to play a full season either way and could be on a minutes’ limitation, so grabbing a guy like Grant would give them a spot starter and some insurance against their season being ruined by injury again.

He and Herb Jones would be tough together and Grant would allow the Pelicans to go small in the playoffs after the Suns killed them with small ball in Round 1 this season.

The Pels already have a lot of talented young players and don’t really need another draft pick, so going after a guy like Grant makes sense, though they’d have some cap issues trying to re-sign him.

It would be a risky move for the Pelicans considering his contract status, but if they really want to go for a title next season, it makes sense and would give them one of the deepest teams in the NBA.

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons would be taking back a guy in Temple who still has one guaranteed year left on his contact, plus a non-guaranteed year in the 2023-24 season, so eating his contract would not be be fun.

Graham actually fills a need for the Pistons as an off-the-bench shooter who can occasionally get hot and score 30 points. He’s got two more guaranteed seasons and a third year that is not fully guaranteed. At $11.5 million per year, Graham might be slightly overpaid, but it’s not a bad contract for a guy who will give you 15 points per game off the bench on 37 percent from long range. He’s undersized and not a great defender, but that is the price Detroit would have to pay to get that 8th pick.

Obviously, this trade would be all about that pick, and would potentially allow the Pistons to add two guys that would set their foundation for the future. With the 3rd and 8th pick, Detroit could end up with a roster that looked like this:

• Cade Cunningham/Killian Hayes
• Bennedict Mathurin/Devonte’ Graham
• Saddiq Bey/Isaiah Livers
• Paolo Banchero/Marvin Bagley III
• Isaiah Stewart/Kelly Olynyk

The Pistons would probably have to decline team options on Frank Jackson and Hamidou Diallo to make up for the extra salary they’d be taking on with Graham, but this is a roster the Pistons could go to war with next season.

They’d be young, big, athletic and have plenty of scoring with room to grow, so this is a deal I would definitely consider for the Detroit Pistons.

The question is whether Grant is really a good fit for the Pelicans, but if they saw him as an upgrade who could help push them over the top, they might be willing to come off a pick they don’t really need.

What do you think, would you do this trade?