The Detroit Pistons are under some amount of pressure to improve next season, as they’ve used up all of their tanking good will and need to show fans some results.
Troy Weaver’s seat will start to get hot soon if his vision does not come to fruition, which would include being competitive in the Eastern Conference next season.
But that’s nothing compared to what the Milwaukee Bucks are facing.
The Bucks have a rapidly aging roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo, who refused to sign an extension until he sees some proof that the Bucks will be contenders for the foreseeable future.
That’s not going to be easy for a capped out team with a lot of key players on the wrong side of 30, including Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez.
This is precisely why ESPN’s Zach Lowe thinks the Bucks are going to make a move.
Detroit Pistons: Milwaukee Bucks feeling the heat
On a recent episode of the Lowe Post podcast, NBA guru Zach Lowe explained the challenges the Bucks face when it comes to keeping their two-time MVP.
Antetokounmpo has made it clear that he wants to win more titles and doesn’t care where that happens, even hinting that he would go join Golden State if needed to.
But Giannis has also said that he would be happy spending his entire career in Milwaukee, so the Bucks have two seasons to show Giannis that they are the best spot for him to rack up more rings.
Zach Lowe thinks that means at least getting to the NBA Finals next season or winning a title to show that the Lopez, Holiday, Middleton group has a few more runs left in them.
But they are going to need help for that to happen: Enter the Detroit Pistons.
The Bucks have several interesting assets, including a 2029 1st-round pick that could be extremely valuable given the age and timeline of their roster.
Lowe thinks the Pistons may have exactly what the Bucks need.
Zach Lowe proposes big trade between Pistons and Bucks
Lowe mentioned that the Bucks have their 2029 pick to go with Grayson Allen’s expiring deal and one of Pat Connaughton and/or Bobby Portis to offer up in a trade for a player in the $20 million range.
His top two targets were Dorian Finney-Smith of the Nets and Bojan Bogdanovic of the Detroit Pistons.
You can listen to the full clip here.
It’s hard to imagine the Pistons getting a valuable expiring deal, a draft pick that could be extremely valuable if it is unprotected and a player like Bobby Portis for Bojan Bogdanovic.
The Pistons haven’t even been able to squeeze one good asset out of teams for Bogdanovic, so getting three might be too much to hope for. But as long as the Pistons could get their hands on that pick, they’d be more inclined to take on the lesser player.
Here is a trade that might work for both teams:
In this trade, the Bucks get another proven scorer to put around Giannis, giving them more firepower and depth in case of injuries.
This trade wouldn’t make them any younger, and in the end, wouldn’t do much to change Giannis’ long-term plans, as Bogdanovic only has one fully guaranteed year left on his deal.
If things worked out, the Bucks could have him for two seasons at a reasonable rate, allowing Giannis to make two more runs at a title. If it didn’t, the Bucks could buy him out and open up a chunk of cap space to go after another star.
It makes sense for them in that it makes them better in the present without changing the future much, as it’s not like Allen and Connaughton are a big part of their long-term plans.
The Bucks would likely want to put protections on the pick, and the Pistons might want them to throw in a different player (Portis would be great), but as is, this is fairly equitable for both teams.
So would the Detroit Pistons be interested?
Zach Lowe proposes big trade between Pistons and Bucks
This is the type of trade the Detroit Pistons should be pursuing when it comes to Bojan Bogdanovic.
Firstly, the Pistons get two players who are not bums in Allen and Connaughton, who would more or less replace Bogdanovic’s scoring in the rotation. Allen is a 40 percent 3-point shooter, and though fans don’t like him much, he’s a better defender than Bogdanovic and the Pistons would only be stuck with him for one year if it didn’t work out.
The sticker would be Connaughton, who has two guaranteed years plus a player option left on his deal. He could be well and truly washed by the end of that, but he’s only making $9.4 million, so it’s a number that the Pistons could absorb or potentially trade away.
The real reward would be that first-round pick in 2029, especially if it is unprotected. This entire Bucks’ roster, including Giannis, will almost certainly be gone or out of the league by then, and the Bucks could be relegated to one of the worst teams in the NBA.
It may seem like a long way away, but if the Detroit Pistons are finally good again, having what could be a top lottery pick in their pocket would be a valuable commodity as they try to add young talent or add another star just as their current players (the ones still on the team) are in the prime of their careers.
This is the type of move that can turn a franchise into a long-term winner or tip a trade that lands the star that gets them a title.
Considering that the Pistons haven’t even been offered one first-round pick for Bogdanovic as of yet, this would be the very high end of what they could expect in a trade, as this pick could end up being one of the most valuable commodities in the league by 2029.
It’s a gamble worth taking, as the Pistons wouldn’t lose much in the present (especially considering it would allow them to start Ausar Thompson right away) and could be setting themselves up for a huge future.