The Detroit Pistons finally traded Jerami Grant after nearly a year of speculation and more fake trades than I care to remember.
Detroit was largely skewered for the return by fans who jumped to judgement before they saw the totality of the deal, and many were angry about what they saw as a poor return for a borderline All-Star.
But Troy Weaver wasn’t done, and was able to flip what looked like a mediocre return into a draft-day coup, which very quickly changed the way we viewed the Jerami Grant trade, which went from “meh” to “OH MY GOD” after the NBA Draft.
Here are the grades for one of the rare trades where both teams won.
Detroit Pistons: Grades fo the Jerami Grant trade
Portland
The Trail Blazers received: Jerami Grant, 46th pick 2022 NBA Draft
Sent out: 2025 1st round pick (via MIL), 36th pick 2022 NBA Draft, 2025 2nd-round pick, 2026 2nd-round pick
Portland was desperate to reload around Damian Lillard rather than do a full rebuild but this trade and draft allowed them to do little of both.
They got Grant to immediately boost their perimeter defense and add another scoring threat around Lillard, but were still able to nab Shaedon Sharpe in the 2022 NBA Draft, a player who is considered one of the talents with the highest ceiling.
They can now re-sign Nurkic and Simons and go into the season with a pretty good team that is ready to compete now but still has some young talent in the pipeline.
The Blazers were able to get the guy they targeted without giving up a real asset, kept their 7th pick and accomplished two things at once.
The only knock is that Grant is on an expiring deal, so he is either going to be a one-year rental or they will be paying big bucks for the end of his prime, which is what the Detroit Pistons were trying to avoid.
Grade: B+
Detroit
The Pistons received: 2025 1st round pick (via MIL), 36th pick 2022 NBA Draft, 2025 2nd-round pick, 2026 2nd-round pick, $21 million trade exception, Kemba Walker
Sent out: Jerami Grant, 46th pick 2022 NBA Draft
When this trade first went down, a lot of fans thought Troy Weaver may have overplayed his hand and waited too long to trade Jerami Grant.
Let’s face it, had the Pistons walked away with nothing but a distant 1st-round pick that will very likely be in the high 20’s, those fans would have been right.
But Weaver wasn’t done, as he was able to flip that pick into the 13th pick to take Jalen Duren, who was reportedly high on the Pistons’ list of draft targets. All they had to do was take on the salary of Kemba Walker (who they will probably buy out) which barely dented their cap space.
They took Gabriele Procida, a high-ceiling 3-point sniper with the 36th pick. So the final payoff for a non-All-Star on an expiring deal was:
- Jalen Duren
- Gabriele Procida
- 2025/2026 2nd-round picks
- Kemba Walker
- $21 million trade exception
I’m pretty sure if you had told Pistons fans that they were going to get a lottery pick, three second-round picks and a huge amount of cap space without taking on any long-term money they would have been ecstatic.
Well, that is exactly what happened, and when you couple that with Jaden Ivey falling to the Detroit Pistons with the 5th pick, Troy Weaver turned in a draft-day masterclass that deserves all of the praise it is getting.
Grade: A+
In just a few short years, the Detroit Pistons have gone from a bad team with a bloated, top-heavy payroll, no young talent, no significant assets and no cap space to one with a potential superstar in Cade Cunningham, two All-Rookie players in Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart, an electric guard in Jaden Ivey and perhaps the best big man from his draft class in Jalen Duren. On top of that, they have more cap space than any team in the NBA to make future moves.
You can question some of Weaver’s individual moves, but you can’t argue with the overall results, as the Pistons are quantifiably better off than when he took over and now have one of the best situations of any young team in the NBA.