The Detroit Pistons will take on the Utah Jazz tonight in Little Caesar’s Arena looking for their 4th straight win after getting clobbered by Cleveland. Detroit is playing well, but has gotten off to a clunky offensive start, which has some dreaming about a big trade for Lauri Markkanen at the deadline.
Markkanen has been a mainstay in trade rumors involving the Pistons, which have only intensified after a strong start that has seen him average over 31 points per game in the first seven contests of the season.
I’ve gone through all of the reasons trading for Markkanen will be challenging, namely that the Pistons would likely have to give up three rotation players and all of their draft assets to do it. As good as Markkanen is offensively, it would be tough to make up for the loss of three players, though the Pistons are currently without the three guys they might have to trade to get it done.
Pistons injuries: We won’t be getting a preview of the Lauri Markkanen trade
Any big trade will almost have to include Tobias Harris, who has the biggest expiring contract on the roster. Detroit would undoubtedly have to include one of their blue chippers, probably Jaden Ivey and at least one more young player to make the money work, someone like Marcus Sasser.
If Utah was hoping to get a preview of part of their future Lauri Markkanen trade package, they are going to have to wait, as all three of these players are currently injured and won’t be returning to action tonight.
Harris has an ankle sprain that shouldn’t keep him out for too long, and Marcus Sasser should be inching closer to a return, but Jaden Ivey will still be out for several more weeks at least, so the Pistons aren’t going to get much time to showcase their prime trade package before the deadline.
There’s also the fact that the Jazz are 3-4 and haven’t looked that bad. On top of that, Markkanen has been spectacular so far and looks more like a guy you’d build around than one you’d want to trade away.
All of this should put a damper on the idea of the Pistons trading for Markkanen, which still has plenty of challenges that now include injuries to the guys Detroit may have to trade to get him.
All of this could change by the time February rolls around, but for now, we can probably put the kibosh on the idea of Markkanen in the Motor City.