Ranking the Pistons’ best trade assets, from peanuts to blockbusters

Detroit Pistons: Ranking the trade assets

TIER 5: Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Killian Hayes

These guys may all seem out of place, but each and every one of them could win a championship with the Pistons someday. Their ceilings are at least very good role players on winning teams, and you can never have enough of those. I wouldn’t give a single one of them away. Whether or not they get the respect they deserve across the NBA, they’re youngsters who are on the verge of finding their authentic professional basketball playing selves. They’ve each endured some pretty brutal lows, and they’ve each been discussed as potentially essential pieces of the next great team in Detroit. They likely have more perceived value to Detroit than to other teams at this point, but all of them would be quality pieces in a big deal.

TIER 6: Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren

They came into the league together and they’re getting their heads knocked in together, too. But oh what breathtaking ability each one has shown! It only makes sense to have them as a pairing, just as they have been for most of the season on the NBA’s Rookie Ladder. Their athleticism sets them apart, not only from every other player on this team (including Cade) but most players around the NBA. It’s only a matter of time before they’re dominating their respective positions.

TIER 7: Cade Cunningham

Nothing could alter Pistons’ universe quite like trading Cade Cunningham away. The former #1 overall pick began to put it together at the end of his rookie season, and yet it is his wash of a sophmore campaign that painfully shows just how much he means to this franchise. This team is lost at sea without him and there is no conceivable scenario in which he trades in the red, white and blue of our beloved Pistons for the colors of another franchise.

The only way this would happen is if the Pistons were getting a bonafide superstar in return, but even then it’s unlikely.