For the past two seasons, the Detroit Pistons have been one of the main teams involved in NBA trade rumors at the deadline.
The first year was Jerami Grant, who the Pistons did end up trading in a deal that eventually landed them Jalen Duren.
Last season it was Bojan Bogdanovic, who was connected in trade rumors to just about every contending team in the league at one point.
The Pistons set their price, and when no team was willing to meet it, they decided to keep Bogdanovic, even promising him that he’d be part of the future when the team is “great next year,” though both of those things remain to be seen.
We knew he’d continue to be pursued this summer, as many contenders would love to add one of the best shooters in the NBA to their rotation. The problem is that none of them seem to want to pay up to get him.
Detroit Pistons shouldn’t cave on Bojan Bogdanovic
According to Marc Stein (SUBSCRIPTION), the Detroit Pistons are still fielding offers for Bogdanovic, which is not surprising, as he is a very productive player who is on a relatively team-friendly deal that isn’t guaranteed past this season:
"“External trade interest in Detroit’s Bojan Bogdanović remains high, while the Pistons continue to insist that they are motivated to keep the veteran swingman.The Pistons’ stance is routinely dismissed as posturing, but they certainly held firm at the trade deadline in February after months’ worth of trade offers came in for the Croatian swingman.”"
The Pistons are reportedly holding out for multiple picks according to one source, a price that teams seem unwilling to meet at this point:
The Pistons are seeking one first-round pick and multiple seconds for Bojan Bogdanovic, per @HPbasketball pic.twitter.com/eFNQXoc2Ig
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 30, 2023
There are a lot of teams that would love Bogdanovic, but not a lot willing to give up anything of value for him, which is why the Detroit Pistons should continue to stand their ground.
If the offer is really only a couple of second-round picks, then that offer will be there at next year’s deadline and Detroit can move him then. Or not.
Bogdanovic is certainly worth more than second-round picks, so there is no need to move him until a better offer presents itself. That may never happen, so Detroit might get stuck taking one of these lowball offers eventually, but that time is not now, especially considering we’ve not even really seen his fit with Cade Cunningham.