The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade finally happened, and it’s good news for anyone who wanted to see the Detroit Pistons make a pick in tonight’s NBA Draft.
Giannis going to Miami was close to a best-case scenario for the Pistons, as he left the division, didn’t join a superteam and Detroit walked away from the deal still holding their first-round pick after it was widely-speculated the Pistons might give up it to acquire Tyler Herro.
Instead, they will enter tonight’s draft with the 21st pick and a very good chance to land the player they want.
The Detroit Pistons still have a pick...for now
It’s possible the Pistons will still end up trading their first-round pick, but it’s also possible that the pick was the sticking point in getting a deal done for Tyler Herro.
I wrote yesterday about how the Pistons should guard this pick with their lives and try to keep it, if at all possible, as it’s better than their future picks are likely to be, and this is a deep draft.
There is a good chance a player the Pistons want will fall into their laps, as I outlined before, the draft is a simple numbers game this year, as there are a ton of guard/wing prospects and one of them is almost certain to fall.
The Pistons haven’t moved any of their assets yet, so they still have the ammo to move up in the draft and take a player like Yaxel Lendeborg or Dailyn Swain, which would help solidify one of their biggest weaknesses this summer.
The dream scenario is one of the talented guards and/or power forwards slides for some reason, and the Pistons are able to use this year’s pick to get a rotation player who can help them right away.
Either way, they will go into the draft with all of their ammo.
The Pistons are set up for a big trade
It sounded as if Trajan Langdon planned on using his pick this year and even said they were more likely to move up than to move down or out of the draft in a recent presser.
That makes sense, as Detroit didn’t have a first-round pick last year, and you don’t want to leave two-year gaps in your development pipeline.
But keeping the pick and not giving it up for Herro in the Giannis trade leaves the Pistons with one of their most valuable assets, which could allow them to make a bigger trade for a player like Trey Murphy III.
I had a reader point out to me yesterday that TMIII isn’t as good or as accomplished as Herro, so was wondering why TMIII was considered a “big swing” and Herro wasn’t.
It simply comes down to cost, as TMIII is the younger, cheaper player who is under contract for several more seasons, so it will take more to get him than a guy coming off an injury who has one year left on his deal.
The Pistons will go into tonight’s affair will all of their options, whether it is just using the pick, trading up or packaging it in a bigger deal, which is a much better scenario than them using it to get Tyler Herro, who they may be able to land without including the pick.
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