Did the Detroit Pistons blow it with the Saddiq Bey trade?

The Detroit Pistons have hired their new head coach and drafted two players in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft, so now attention will turn to the rest of the roster.

One player the Pistons have coveted in the past just got moved yesterday, as it was reported that John Collins was traded to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gay and a second-round pick.

Can we take a second to pour one out for the John Collins’ trade rumor run, one of the longest in the sport? He was on the Mount Rushmore of trade rumors along with Bradley Beal, who was also recently traded.

If Myles Turner and Damian Lillard get traded this offseason, sports blogs will be flying their flags at half mast, wondering who in the next generation of players is going to replace the GOATS of trade rumors.

Should the Detroit Pistons have traded for John Collins?

The wild thing is how little the Hawks were able to get for him, as Collins was in a million wonky trade rumors over the last several seasons, most of them sending a fairly substantial haul back to the Hawks.

This is a direct result of the new CBA, which punishes teams more severely for being in the luxury tax, so Collins likely isn’t the last high-paid player we’ll see moved for peanuts as non-contending teams try to shed excess salary.

Earlier this past season, the Detroit Pistons traded Saddiq Bey, who ended up on these same Atlanta Hawks, in a deal that eventually landed them James Wiseman.

The question is whether they would have been better off holding out for Collins. Did the Detroit Pistons blow the Saddiq Bey trade by acting too soon?