Detroit Pistons: This lowball return isn’t enough to trade Alec Burks

The trade deadline is getting closer and we still have no idea what the Detroit Pistons are going to do, if they do anything at all.

Rumors around Bojan Bogdanovic have started to cool, mostly because teams are reluctant to meet the Pistons’ asking price for the 33-year-old, who is having one of the best seasons of his career, though doing it on an embarrassingly bad team.

Saddiq Bey was also getting some attention from around the league after the Pistons said he was available for the right price, but that too has cooled as that price is debatable depending on who you ask.

Alec Burks is another veteran having a great year who would obviously benefit a contending team, but he’s another player whose value fluctuates wildly depending on who you ask. The Pistons want a “tremendous return” but so far teams around the league have been reluctant to give it.

Burks is arguably the Pistons’ only quality role player and one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA, so Detroit needs to continue to stand their ground, especially if the most recent rumors are true.

Detroit Pistons: Alec Burks cannot be traded for second-round picks

According to HoopsHype, executives around the league have set the price for Alec Burks at two second-round picks.

"“Some rival executives believed Detroit could get two second-round picks for reserve swingman Alec Burks, but the current stance from Detroit is that won’t be enough.”"

Of course there is some amount of posturing going on from the Pistons, as well as from those who would love to have Burks, but if the price is truly two second-round picks, then the Pistons should run away and never look back.

Second-round picks aren’t worthless, but they are easy to come by and often switch hands several times before they are conveyed. While there have undoubtedly been good players taken in the second round, it’s even more of a crapshoot than the first, so you could give a team 10 second-round picks and they might not find an NBA rotation player.

Rui Hachimura, who is younger but quantifiably worse than Burks, just fetched three second-round picks, so I find it hard to believe that teams think they are going to get Burks for this lowball offer.

The Detroit Pistons would be much better off keeping Burks, who is not only a productive veteran (which they desperately need) but on a  team-friendly contract that only pays him just over $10 million next season.

Trading him for two second-round picks would be tantamount to trading him for nothing, and if the Detroit Pistons ever want to be good again, they cannot trade valuable role players for misguided hope.