After having a relatively quiet offseason, the Detroit Pistons have made a big unexpected trade with the Utah Jazz.
According to James Edwards III among others, the Pistons will send Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee to Utah in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic:
The Pistons are sending Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee to the Jazz for Bojan Bogdanovic, sources tell me and @JLEdwardsIII. https://t.co/Mu7dkZVJ8I
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 22, 2022
This looks like a huge win for the Detroit Pistons, as Bogdanovic is a very good player and Olnynk and Lee were not part of the future plans anyway.
It also makes sense for Utah, but less so, as they are trying to tank, but it seems they could have gotten a better deal than a couple of bench players.
But it’s nice to be on the right side of a lopsided trade, and this one is a big win for the Detroit Pistons in many ways.
Detroit Pistons trade: Adding Bogdanovic a home run
Just from a talent standpoint, this is a huge win for the Pistons, as Bogdanovic is easily the best player involved in this deal.
This is a guy who scored 18 points per game last year on a good team while shooting 38 percent from 3-point range on high volume. Yes, he’s 33-years-old and on an expiring deal, but he is a huge upgrade of talent at a position of need and will allow the Pistons to throw out a starting five that looks like this:
- Cade Cunningham
- Jaden Ivey
- Saddiq Bey
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- Isaiah Stewart/Marvin Bagley III
Olynyk was not good last season and Saben Lee was probably going to get waived, so this is a no-brainer for Detroit, as they just got a very good player and gave up practically nothing.