Pistons' Trey Murphy III vs. Tyler Herro debate comes down to risk

The Detroit Pistons will be active this summer and have already been attached to players like Trey Murphy III and Tyler Herro as possible offensive upgrades. 

Of course, this is all speculation at this point, and there is no indication that either of those players are even available, so I would not be shocked in the least if neither of them ended up in Detroit. 

But for the sake of discussion, both of these players would be instant offensive boosts for Detroit, who average 20+ppg. Herro is the better creator and overall scorer, but TMIII is a better rebounder and defender. 

Both players would help but would also present varying degrees of risk for the Pistons. 

Tyler Herro has troubling red flags 

Herro is on an expiring contract next season and is off an injury-plagued year, so he’d likely be far less expensive to acquire in a trade than Trey Murphy III. That’s a bonus, but it’s also a risk to give up assets for a guy who could potentially be a rental. 

There are also questions about Herro’s defense being playable in the playoffs, though I think the Pistons are in a position to absorb one bad offensive player. 

The risk with Herro is that he can’t stay healthy and may not want to stay long term, but if things didn’t work out, you wouldn’t be stuck with him, so there isn’t much long-term risk with Herro and the cost to trade for him could be reasonable. 

The risk with Trey Murphy III is all about the cost 

TMIII checks a lot of boxes for the Pistons as a very good shooter who isn’t a complete sieve on defense. 

He’s also younger and on a relatively team-friendly contract for three more seasons that would allow the Pistons some flexibility even if they extend Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson. 

The real risk with TMIII is the cost, as it would likely take an overpay to pry him away from the Pelicans, who really have no reason to trade him given his age and contract. 

It may take a Desmond Bane or Mikal Bridges-esque deal to get it done, and those types of trades are always full of risk. That risk worked out for the Knicks, who expended all the trade assets and money at their disposal to build the team that just won the title, so no one is talking about future draft picks. 

But if you make that big trade and it doesn’t work out, you are left with a less flexible roster and fewer ways to fix it, ask the Orlando Magic. 

Any trade the Pistons make is going to involve some amount of risk of course, but there are different types of challenges, and Detroit has to decide if they are willing to pay the price for either of them. 

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