“Absurd” Bleacher Report trade rips off the Detroit Pistons

Detroit Pistons: This trade is not enough for both Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks

The only team that really isn’t getting full value is the Detroit Pistons, who are giving up both of their veterans in this deal and not getting a single known commodity or draft asset in return.

I am not against the idea of pursuing John Collins, but surely they shouldn’t have to give up both of their veterans to get him, especially since his production has declined and he is on a contract that is rapidly starting to look bad. This would be putting a lot of hope in him regaining his form from three seasons ago and if he doesn’t, you are stuck paying him $25 million through the 2025-26 season.

It also creates an even-worse logjam at power forward and the Pistons may not be ready to give up on the Isaiah Stewart experiment yet.

The other two players have done exactly squat in the NBA, though Jalen Johnson is only 21-years-old and does have intriguing upside as a two-way forward. The Pistons would be giving up two very productive players who they know are good for a guy who has been in decline and two huge question marks.

If Detroit is going to roll the dice on an unknown, they’d prefer a draft pick so they can at least choose him themselves and not get stuck with someone else’s declining asset.

For Detroit to really want to get involved in this, they’d have to have strong belief that Collins would thrive with Cade Cunningham and that one of Johnson or Christie would eventually become an NBA rotation player and there is no guarantee of any of that.

If you were to switch out Christie for one of those Lakers’ picks, then it might be a different discussion, but as it stands, this trade is worse for the Detroit Pistons than any of the other teams involved.