The Detroit Pistons got news yesterday that Cade Cunningham’s shin is fractured, which could require season-ending surgery.
This is much worse than the original news that he was only going to be out for a week and will force the Pistons to re-evaluate how they will approach the rest of the season.
Detroit was hoping to get their full roster healthy at some point and see how it meshed and who were the best fits around Cade Cunningham.
With that potentially off the table, Detroit may decide to cash out veterans Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel and Bojan Bogdanovic, whose shooting has made him a hot trade target for contending teams.
But would losing Cunningham for the season really make the Detroit Pistons more likely to move on from Bogdanovic so early, or are there good reasons to keep him around?
The Detroit Pistons are more likely to trade Bojan Bogdanovic
At this point, the season is lost if it wasn’t already, as the Detroit Pistons had the worst record in the NBA before the news that their best player could be out for the season.
If the Pistons are waiving the white flag, there is really no reason to keep Bogdanovic around, as his value is probably as high as it is ever going to be. Bogdanovic has been one of the most consistent shooters in the NBA and is again this season, but there is no guarantee that a guy his age will do it again next year.
Trading him would protect the Pistons against a potential injury that would tank his value and leave them with nothing. Detroit is set back another year anyway, so the need for a guy like Bogdanovic likely just got pushed down the road.
The Pistons may as well get maximum value for a guy they don’t need in a season where they are likely to win fewer than 20 games.
The Detroit Pistons are less likely to trade Bojan Bogdanovic
Without Cade Cunningham, Bogdanovic is very easily the Pistons’ best player, so trading him now would all but ensure the Pistons win as many games as the “Process” Sixers.
It’s not just about wins and losses, as the Pistons are also developing bad habits that will get even worse without some kind of veteran leadership.
On top of that, Troy Weaver never even got to evaluate the whole roster that he built in the offseason, as they haven’t all been healthy at the same time. It would be nice to at least see how all of these pieces fit before they start trading them away for mediocre young players and late first-round picks.
Trading Bogdanovic now would not only be giving up on this season, but likely next year too, as they’d be back to square one with an even younger team and the same holes to fill. We’d enter next offseason saying “we need shooting!” after trading away one of the best shooters in the league, likely for a pick or player that won’t make an impact for several more years.
I think this will likely all come down to the offer, as what Bogdanovic brings is more valuable than just some salary filler and a late first-round pick, but if Troy Weaver can use Bogs to land a young player he envisions a part of the future core, he’d probably jump at it.
The market will likely determine if the Detroit Pistons trade Bogdanovic, and if the right offer isn’t there, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him stay.