Brutal Jaden Ivey reality now hitting home for Pistons fans

Because he was due to be a restricted free agent, we knew Jaden Ivey would be included in a ton of trade rumors this season. His name was in a million fake trades, usually as the centerpiece to a big move that landed the Pistons an impact player, which turned out to be a pipe dream. 

Instead of an Ivey package netting the Pistons a player like Trey Murphy III or Michael Porter Jr., the Pistons got Kevin Huerter and a pick swap, hardly the payout fans were dreaming of when they thought of Detroit possibly trading Jaden Ivey. 

The trade hasn’t been a roaring success for either team, as both Jaden Ivey and Kevin Huerter are out of their respective team’s rotation, though in Ivey’s case it’s hard to know if it’s because of knee soreness or the Bulls simply tanking. 

Given the way Ivey was playing, I did not think the Pistons could use him as the centerpiece of a big trade, especially with his contract situation hanging in the air, but it’s now clear that the Huerter deal was probably the best they could get, driving home a brutal reality to Pistons fans. 

There wasn’t a trade market for Jaden Ivey 

It’s now clear that there wasn’t much, if any trade market for Ivey outside of Chicago, and there are already rumblings out of Chicago that the Bulls may not make Ivey a qualifying offer for fear he’ll just take it and they’ll be stuck paying him $13 million next year. 

The Pistons did get a pick swap for Ivey, one that will have value, as it has currently vaulted the Pistons up nine spots in a deep draft, but the fact that they couldn’t even secure a rotation player drives home just how far the perception of Ivey had fallen. 

I didn’t think the Pistons would be able to use Ivey to get a star. The hopes were a player who could shoot, or at least someone could crack the rotation, but that doesn’t look to be the case, as JB Bickerstaff is starting to hone his rotation for the playoffs and Huerter has not been in it. 

The reality of the situation is that pick swap and the financial flexibility that comes with not having Ivey’s cap hold were pretty much the best the Pistons could do, though I am still holding out hope that Huerter provides something this season. 

Detroit clearly wasn’t counting on that, so the market for Ivey was a pick swap and that’s about it, which is not something I expected when the season was starting. 

Ivey’s injury clearly set him back, not only for the Pistons but for how the rest of the league viewed him.