The Detroit Pistons took a major step forward last season after not only clinching their first playoff berth since 2019, but taking the 51-win Knicks to a hard-fought six games in round one.
Now, with Cade Cunningham officially establishing himself as a budding superstar and the bulk of their rough-and-tough roster making its return for 2025-26, the ball club's goal should be to level up even more this coming campaign.
Frankly, with the Boston Celtics actively crumbling right before our very eyes, the Eastern Conference is as wide open as it's been in nearly a decade, which has many fans clamoring to see some sort of splashy, star-driven trade take place so the Pistons can fully steer into a win-now movement.
Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen is a particular player who has regularly been linked to Detroit as a possible trade target throughout the offseason so far, and has been a favorite among the franchise's faithful followers for years.
At the moment, whispers around the league suggest that Utah has every intention of keeping the 28-year-old in tow heading into the upcoming season, with a team executive recently being quoted as telling NBA insider Keith Smith, "we love Lauri."
However, there's no telling how long this kind of affection will last for the clearly rebuilding team. In fact, NBA insider Zach Lowe believes it may only be a few months before Markkanen's trade value skyrockets.
Pistons may want to pounce on Lauri Markkanen before price goes up
During a recent episode of The Zach Lowe Show, the eponymous host referred to Markkanen as "the most interesting trade candidate in the league," and suggested that a hot start to this coming season could rehab his value exponentially and make any possible return the Jazz could get all the more lucrative.
While such a scenario would undoubtedly be great for Utah, it could make the hypothetical path for Detroit acquiring the forward a bit more challenging, especially if they have to enter into a bidding war with other prospective buyers.
Because of this, the Pistons might want to get a head start in chatting it up with Danny Ainge about a possible pre-season price tag for Markkanen in the hopes of swaying him with a combination of draft capital (own all their first-round picks moving forward) and promising prospects (Ex. Marcus Sasser), all things a fresh-start team like the Jazz generally covet.
As made evident by their seventh-worst offensive rating during the 2025 postseason, Detroit could use more firepower on the more glamorous side of the ball.
On top of this, their 17-ranked three-point shooting percentage (36.2) during the regular season that dropped to the third-worst in the playoffs (32.4) suggests adding a perimeter sniper could also be a desired game plan as well.
Someone like the 7-footer who boasts career averages of 18.2 points on 37.1 percent shooting from deep and, even in a down season like last year, still dropped 19.0 points a night, could prove to be a major get to help them with this offense that just ranked within the 37 percentile in points per 100 possessions and the 31 percentile in effective field goal percentage in non-Cunningham minutes.
Granted, Markkanen is a player who comes with some notable baggage, particularly when it comes to the health department, as he's played in over 60 games just three times in his eight-year career.
However, when it comes to a team as deep as the Pistons, taking high-risk, high-reward moves such as this can certainly be argued as justifiable, especially if they can capitalize on the All-Star's currently lowered trade value.