If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone talk about trading Devin Booker to the Detroit Pistons, I could probably retire now, as it’s been the trade rumor that just won’t die.
While the idea of pairing Booker with Cade Cunningham is an appealing one, there are challenges these trade proposals never address.
The latest iteration came from Bleacher Report but pretty much looked like all of the others:
As I’ve outlined many times, the challenge of trading for a player on an astronomical salary is that the Pistons would have to send back three players to make the money work, which is where the problems begin.
This is especially true if the Pistons are trading for guards/wings in this scenario instead of bringing back a power forward, which would be ideal.
Some would say this is an overpay (me), as Ivey will give you a good percentage of what Booker does at a fraction of the cost, and I value the depth that cap space can buy more than 6-7 extra points per game from Booker.
Even if you think this trade is fair, it creates massive problems for the Pistons that aren’t going away.
Devin Booker would be great, but would the Pistons be better?
We’ve talked endlessly about the Pistons’ lack of depth at power forward, where they have Tobias Harris on an expiring deal and no one else. Both Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II can play the four, but both Harris and Holland would be going in this trade, leaving the Pistons with zero power forwards.
Who is even in the starting five in this scenario? Cade Cunningham, Devin Booker, Caris LeVert, Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren? Duncan Robinson instead of LeVert?
And who is the backup four? I’ll wait.
You could argue JB Bickerstaff could mix and match different wing players to try and make it work, but this trade would leave the Pistons with a hole in the starting five and one on the bench.
As much as I love the idea of Booker, I just don’t see how this makes the Pistons better, as it creates more problems than it solves and takes away all of Detroit’s financial flexibility.
This is why Booker’s contract is nearly untradable unless the team getting him has a monster deal to send back, otherwise you are giving up too much depth to get there.
I’m sure this isn’t the last time we’ll see this, but it’s hard to see Trajan Langdon swerving this hard away from the ethos he has followed so far.