With the NBA trade deadline less than a month away, the Detroit Pistons have a big decision to make about Bojan Bogdanovic.
The veteran sharpshooter has been great offensively for the Pistons, and though his defense leaves plenty to be desired, you can live with it when a guy scores 20+ a night on fantastic shooting splits.
But the 33-year-old’s value is never going to be higher, and the Pistons are still a long way from contending, so it does make some sense to move him and try to reap as many assets as possible.
Detroit has been coy about their intentions and have repeatedly said they’d rather keep Bogdanovic in an effort to actually compete next season, which also makes sense, as this team needs to turn the corner soon and trading away their best veteran player isn’t the way to do it.
I can see both sides of this debate, and it’s hard to weigh in without knowing what exactly they could get in a trade for Bogdanovic and whether those assets plus whatever free agents they could grab would put the Pistons in a better position to win next season or shortly thereafter.
Detroit Pistons: The value of a late first-round pick
There have been myriad teams connected to Bojan Bogdanovic in trade rumors this season, and most of them (other than the delusional Lakers) are considered title contenders, and a guy like Bojan could be the player who puts them over the top.
The Pistons have held their ground and said they will accept nothing less than a young player and an unprotected first-round pick. Since most of the teams connected to Bojan are good, their picks will likely come later in the first round, so the question is whether a late first-round pick is really worth it to give up one the NBA’s most proven scorers.
We took a look at all of the players drafted at 20 or above over a block of five years to see the chances the Detroit Pistons could land at least a decent role player or star in the later first round.