Proposed trade that sees the Detroit Pistons as buyers at the deadline

The Spurs are known around the league as maybe the best developmental organization. They have also been able to acquire strong pieces in the draft. The likes of Tre Jones, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan and Keldon Johnson.

Of those young cornerstones, San Antonio may be most likely willing to deal Johnson.

To pry him out of San Antonio, I’d expect that the Spurs would be looking mainly for draft capital. I’m not sure if they will compete next year, so trading Johnson for picks allows them to kick the can down the road, adding draft assets to move forward their rebuild.

What does a Johnson-to-Pistons trade look like?

As the Pistons are currently in a similar situation as the Spurs, San Antonio would likely need their return package to be centered around draft picks.

It’s also important to note that Johnson signed an extension with San Antonio that is set to begin next season. The extension is for four years and $74 million, giving Johnson a $20 million salary next season.

This extension opens Johnson to the Poison Pill restriction, meaning that he can no longer be traded for a player making equal money to his rookie contract. His salary through the extension is averaged, and that becomes his incoming salary for any team that would acquire him via a trade.

That said, the Pistons do have the cap room to take on Johnson’s salary. So, the trade can be centered around picks, and the Pistons can send the Spurs a player or two to offset Johnson’s new deal.

So, a potential trade that could send Johnson to Detroit at the deadline can look similar to this: