Grade the trade: Pistons land superstar in ESPN 3-team trade

ESPN proposes Zion Williamson trade to Detroit Pistons

I have to say, ESPN came up with a pretty good one here, as I don’t think any of the three teams would immediately walk away.

In this trade, the Pistons are giving up some of their depth and lose both Bojan Bogdanovic and Isaiah Stewart to go along with the 5th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

The Pels get their haul with Bogdanovic, Stewart and the #2 pick, allowing them to grab Henderson without going into rebuild mode, as they’d also get two players who could help them right now. It seems like a best-case scenario for the Pelicans who add the young potential superstar to replace Zion along with two players who would fit their roster.

Of the other two teams (I’ll get to Detroit in a second), the Hornets seem to be the most likely to walk away from this, as they move back three spots in the draft just to pick up another late lottery pick. They do need more impact talent, but they’d have to believe they could find good players in those spots and that is no given in this draft.

Either of the other two could walk away, but let’s look at the grade from the point of view of the Detroit Pistons.