The Pistons could fill their need for a second star scorer by trading for Michael Porter Jr, but it could lead to a whole other can of worms. Since the Pistons have already filled out most of their roster, the only way for salaries to match with Porter would be sending out Jalen Duren along with other significant pieces. While Porter would give the Pistons another crucial creator that they desperately need, losing Duren would also leave them barren at the center position.
The Pistons can't lose Duren now
Unfortunately, Detroit's front office has painted itself into a corner with their moves at the center spot this offseason. It began with trading away Isaiah Stewart for a meager return and not using their assets to pick up a solid replacement. As of now, Paul Reed is still on the team as a solid backup but the Pistons still need Duren back desperately to fill the starting spot.
Even though the Pistons don't want to pay Duren the max contract he desires, they still need him back to be a starter and even take another step forward next season. At this stage in the offseason, it will be very difficult to replace Duren's production with anyone on the trade or free agency market without giving up major assets - just look at what the Lakers had to trade for a comparable player in Walker Kessler.
Porter Jr might not be good enough to warrant the massive risk
Additionally, if the Pistons were to dangle Duren as a trade piece, they would want someone better than MPJ coming back. Despite his struggles in the playoffs last season, Duren still has massive growth potential at age 22. He was deservedly an All-Star in the regular season and the Pistons could find deep postseason success too if he's able to maintaing that level into the playoffs going forward.
On the other hand, Porter was on the outside of the All-Star picture last season after averaging 24 points per game for the lowly Nets. He had the biggest self-creation load of his NBA career and picked up his scoring but expectedly saw his efficiency drop. In prior seasons, he put up as much as 18 points per game for the Nuggets while shooting 50% from the field and 40% from three.
Those numbers might not be quite good enough for the Pistons to be a sure-fire title contender if they swap out Duren for Porter and get Porter's best in the playoffs. He's never proven himself as a proper number 2 scorer on a contending team; he was behind both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in Denver. Additionally, Porter just turned 28 so he's unlikely to see drastic improvement at this stage, unlike Duren.
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