The Detroit Pistons are set at center with Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart and Paul Reed, but if one of them were to get injured, that would change quickly as we saw in last year’s playoffs. Luckily, there may be a lifeline in the form of Nikola Vucevic for the team most desperate for a midseason addition.
Let’s hope that isn’t the Pistons, but Isaiah Stewart has a lengthy injury history, and we saw firsthand what happened when he went down, leaving the Pistons to lean on Paul Reed in the playoffs and play Jalen Duren huge minutes, which wasn't ideal.
The Pistons have made their desire for a stretch five well known and Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls was one of the best in the league last season after regaining his long-range form. He hit 40 percent on 4.5 attempts per game from 3-point range, numbers that look a lot more appealing now that he is in the final year of his contract.
But with teams going younger and looking for cheap impact players, Vucevic hasn’t had much of a market according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, which could force the Bulls into an uncomfortable decision.
Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls trades
I’ve written about the Bulls as a possible trade partner for the Pistons, as I love Ayo Dosunmu, another player the Bulls may be forced to trade.
Unlike Dosunmu, who is on a team-friendly deal that would draw plenty of interest, Vucevic’s $21.4 million is more difficult to stomach even though he is still a very good offensive center who will give you 10 rebounds a game.
He’d be quite a change of pace from the current group of bigs the Pistons have considering none of them can shoot or offer much on offense other than dunking.
According to Fischer, the Bulls may have to orchestrate a buyout at some point in the season, which would make Vucevic a free agent, but given there are few teams with the financial means to absorb his deal, anyone that wanted to make that trade probably could for cheap.
That includes the Pistons, a proposition which would only be interesting if they were to have an injury, as right now there isn’t the type of role a veteran like Vucevic would command. But if Detroit suffers an injury or is just looking to add more offensive firepower, Vucevic is a guy they could consider.
It’s not a likely scenario and one we should hope we don’t need, but Vucevic will represent a “break in case of emergency” trade for any team with depth issues at center.