Pistons' top trade target may not be worth the bidding war

The Detroit Pistons have been attached to Trey Murphy III in trade speculation, which is good news for fans who want to see Detroit add more shooting, but the bad news is that the rest of the league has the same idea.

Murphy III is a 20+ppg scorer who can knock down 3-point shots, and just about every team could use his services, so if he is made available, there will be plenty of teams interested according to insider Marc Stein, who named the Thunder, Lakers and Warriors all as possibilities. 

Possibly the most appealing thing about TMIII is his contract, as he is locked into a relatively team-friendly deal for the next three seasons, maxing out at $31 million a year, far less than many of the other impact trade possibilities. 

All of these reasons make it less likely the Pelicans want to trade him at all, as TMIII is what every team is looking for, which is a 3-point shooting wing who is making less than $40 million a year. 

But if he is made available, the Pelicans will be asking for a huge windfall in the range of what the Grizzlies got for Desmond Bane, and if that is the case, the Pistons will have to ask themselves if Murphy III is worth that kind of investment. 

The Pistons can’t be too loose with unknown picks 

The Magic gave up a couple of expiring contracts and FOUR unprotected first-round picks for Desmond Bane, not to mention an additional swap, thinking that Bane could be the final piece of a championship puzzle. 

That didn’t turn out to be the case, but the Orlando Magic had to pay a premium to fill a glaring need they had for shooting. The Pistons have that same glaring need but can’t be too loose with their picks. 

The Magic had extra picks to give up, while the Pistons only control all of their own picks. There are also the new draft lottery rules, which may cause teams to be more protective over picks that could have more or less value depending on how the new rules shake out. 

After the three-year trial, no one knows what will happen, so we may see teams unwilling to unload those kinds of packages of picks with so much up in the air. 

TMIII would be nice on paper, but not if the Pistons have to outbid 3-4 other teams to get there, which may be impossible anyway. 

The Pistons probably aren’t one player away from a title, so need to be careful of how they allocate their resources to max out their roster. 

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