As the trade deadline approaches, the Detroit Pistons continue to be a centerpiece in many trade rumors, most of them involving Bojan Bogdanovic.
The Pistons have communicated that they are not interested in trading him unless there is something big coming back, but we also know that teams love to try and build leverage by feigning disinterest in trade discussions.
Detroit has stood their ground that they would want an unprotected first-round pick, but even that may not be enough if it is one that is likely to come later in the first round, as they have also repeatedly said that the goal is to actually compete next season.
There might be a deal out there, but so far, it has not presented itself, and it seems as though the Pistons are not going to do anything that will make them worse in the short term, especially not with a likely high draft pick coming in, copious amounts of cap space and Cade Cunningham returning next season.
And according to one source, the Pistons’ stance may not be posturing.
Detroit Pistons trade rumors: Bojan Bogdanovic staying put
According to HoopsHype, the Detroit Pistons have communicated with Bojan Bogdanovic and told him that their plan is to compete next season and that they want him to be part of it:
"“Having conversations with the club, Troy (Weaver), and the owners, they assured me that we’re going to be great next year,” Bogdanovic told HoopsHype. “We have a lot of cap space to sign great players. We’re going to have a high pick again, so that’s going to help us a lot. We have a great young group of guys. When Cade (Cunningham)went down, that kind of hurt us big time. We were thinking that maybe we’d be fighting for the play-in tournament, but when he went down, he was our main guy. All of our offensive strategies were connected to him.”"
Again, this could all be posturing to try and drive up the price, but this does not sound like a team that is eager to trade its leading scorer away just to help a contender.
Of course, some team may get desperate enough to make the Detroit Pistons an offer too good to pass up, but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case, as teams are shying away from giving up too much for players on the wrong side of 30, especially after seeing what just happened to the Timberwolves in the Rudy Gobert trade.
The Pistons may surprise some people and turn into buyers at the deadline, or they could certainly move Alec Burks or even Saddiq Bey if the price is right, but for now, it appears as though they are not going to trade Bojan Bogdanovic. But with just over a week left until the deadline, there is still time for that to change.