Detroit Pistons: Free agency may come down to these two players
Detroit Pistons: The case for Jalen Brunson
Brunson just showed that he has another level when he averaged 21.5 points over three series in the playoffs. His regular-season numbers were much more pedestrian, as he averaged 16.3 points, 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game.
He shot over 50 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from 3-point range on the season.
Strengths
Brunson is a tough and versatile player who is just 25-years-old. He has shown that he can thrive with a ball-dominant guard and play both on and off the ball, which would give some relief to Cade Cunningham.
Brunson looked comfortable running the offense in Luka’s absence and had some of his best games of the season as the number one option.
He can break down a defense, but he is also a good shooter off the ball, as he hit over 40 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-point shots this season.
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He’d give the Detroit Pistons a second or third scoring option, as well as a guy who could shoulder some of the ball-handling duties and defend point guards so that Cade Cunningham doesn’t have to.
Red Flags
Brunson is just 6-foot-1, so is mostly limited to defending point guards in the NBA. That is not necessarily a problem, as Cade is a big guard who is better off defending two guards and wings most nights.
The other big red flag for Brunson is that he has spent his entire career playing with Luka Doncic. On one hand you say great, that means he can play with a ball dominant guard, but on the other you have to ask how much of his success has been due to playing with a generational talent.
Contract
It’s going to take a max deal to get Jalen Brunson and it’s debatable whether he’s worth it. When you consider that his numbers are pretty much the same as Saddiq Bey’s you have to wonder if he is truly good enough to be the second-best player on a contender that doesn’t have Luka.
Brunson may have another level, but it’s a risky bet for the Detroit Pistons because it is going to take a max deal (or close) to find out. The last thing a rebuilding team wants to do is pay max money for a guy who isn’t an All-Star.
The Detroit Pistons might be able to find a guard in the 2022 NBA Draft who can score 16 a game, so it seems like a big roll of the dice to pay a guy upwards of $20 million a season hoping that he has another level.
The Detroit Pistons did do this with Jerami Grant, but Grant’s skillset translated better to the modern NBA and he would have been a valuable contributor even if he wasn’t scoring 20 a game, as he is a versatile and long defender on the perimeter. You can’t say the same of Brunson, who would be a much larger risk in my opinion.