The Detroit Pistons will enter tomorrow’s 2025 NBA Draft with only the 37th pick, but that doesn’t mean they won’t leave it with an impact player.
Trajan Langdon tried to dampen expectations for the 37th pick, as the NIL money in college has kept more potential 2nd-round prospects from joining the draft, which will make it more difficult to find a gem.
But with plenty of international talent coming in and some older college players on the board, Detroit still might be able to find an eventual rotation player in that range, which they hope they did last season with Bobi Klintman.
Trajan Langdon has a solid history in the second round, so staying put and taking a player they like is certainly a possibility and probably the most likely one. But the Pistons have two other ways they can walk away from the Draft with a player who can help them next season.
The Pistons could trade up
There are teams like the Thunder and Nets who have multiple first-round picks in the 2025 Draft. In the case of Brooklyn, they have four first rounders and may not want to add that many rookies in one draft.
OKC already has a full roster, not to mention a guy in Nikola Topic who many feel was a top 5 talent from last year’s draft. The Pistons could potentially use their 37th pick and extra second rounders to move up to the 24th, 26th or 27th pick if there is a prospect they love in that range and one of OKC or Brooklyn want to make a deal.
You also have teams like the Clippers, Celtics and Suns who may want to avoid the money attached to a first-round pick and wouldn’t mind moving back a few spots from picks 28-30.
The Pistons’ pick is a sneaky-good asset that may allow them to move up a few spots if a good player slides for some reason, so they could walk away with a first-round talent.
The Pistons can package their pick to land a role player in a trade
There will be teams looking to shed money any way they can, and the Pistons may be able to take advantage by trading their pick for a role player some team has to cut for salary reasons.
A guy like Sam Hauser comes to mind, but any team that is over the apron may give up a role player for a second-round pick just to save the money.
Nothing would shock me in this draft, as the Pistons may just select a player at 37 and move on, but they have ways to move around or use the pick for trades.