Detroit Pistons: Possible deadline deal with Celtics or wait it out?
Detroit Pistons: Trading for Grant Williams of the Boston Celtics
Trading for Grant Williams or signing him to a big deal in free agency is somewhat a leap of faith. He’s a guy who averages 8.6 points and 4.6 rebounds on a team with an MVP candidate that is loaded with talent.
He’s not a go-to scoring option and has undoubtedly benefitted from the space his teammates create. The Detroit Pistons would have to believe that his impact would transfer to a starting role and that he could improve with more run and greater opportunity.
The Celtics are reportedly seeking a similar player who is under team control, in which case, Saddiq Bey makes sense, as he could be traded for Williams straight up, perhaps with Boston sending some low-level draft capital to balance it out.
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Trading for Williams now would give the Pistons the inside track to re-signing him, especially if he thought he could get the bigger role that he seeks in Detroit.
But the question is why the Pistons would really consider doing this. Would Williams just be a more expensive Saddiq Bey or would his 41 percent 3-point shooting and defense be a big upgrade? Tough to say.
Williams is certainly a better all-around defender than Bey and a more efficient offensive player, but that is with the luxury of playing with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two of the best forwards in the game.
Bey could end up being Williams soon, especially in the right situation, so swapping the two could just be a more expensive lateral move for Detroit. If the Pistons could land Grant Williams in a trade that didn’t cost them Bey, it might be worth considering, but he’s really the only player the Pistons have that meets the description unless they wanted to move Isaiah Stewart.
Stewart is a fan favorite and has shown signs of improvement this season, but he’s ultimately a tweener who can’t really play center full time and hasn’t shown enough shooting to be a true stretch four. Williams has, so swapping him for Stewart might be the move, as it would not only upgrade the Pistons’ perimeter defense but add some more shooting.
There is also a strong argument to just wait until free agency.