7 players the Detroit Pistons gave up on too soon
#1: Khris Middleton
Middleton, like Dinwiddie, was another situation where the Detroit Pistons hit a home run in the second-round of the NBA Draft only to give the player away.
Middleton was the 39th pick in the 2012 Draft and played just 27 games in Detroit before he was traded as part of the move to acquire Brandon Jennings. The wild part is that Middleton was an afterthought in the trade, as Brandon Knight was the big get for Milwaukee. Little did they know that Middleton would become the best player in the group.
He immediately started making an impact for the Bucks, playing all 82 games in his first season, averaging 12 points per game and shooting over 40 percent from 3-point range, so the Pistons didn’t have to wait long to see their colossal mistake.
Middleton just kept getting better (Brandon Jennings didn’t if you were wondering), culminating in three All-Star selections and being the second-best player on a title team. When healthy, Middleton is one of the best two-way wings in the game, the exact type of player the Pistons have been looking for since.
He is proof that you never know what you are losing when you give up on young players too soon, which is a mistake Troy Weaver hopes he hasn’t already made.