Missed trade opportunity could have made this summer easy for the Pistons

Watching Jared McCain drop 20 points on the Spurs last night must have had the 76ers wondering if they did the right thing when they traded him away, and the Detroit Pistons might be wondering if they should have gotten involved themselves. 

The Thunder surprisingly traded for McCain at the deadline for what turned out to be the 22nd pick in this year’s draft along with three future second-round picks. McCain is just 22 years old and just made his first playoff start for the Thunder last night in a crucial game five victory. 

And when you look at the price the Thunder paid, in retrospect it looks like the Pistons probably should have gotten involved, which would have made Trajan Langdon’s summer a lot easier. 

The Pistons missed a chance with Jared McCain 

McCain may not immediately be a second option, and in reality, probably never will be, but he’s a 22-year-old who just showed he can drop 20+ points in a playoff game, which is something the Pistons need. 

The Pistons ended up with the 21st pick in the draft (though obviously didn’t know that at the time), so could have theoretically made a better offer than OKC, as Detroit also has a giant pile of second round picks they could have included. 

The Thunder were betting that a late first-round pick in this year’s draft was more of a risk than McCain, who is the same age, or even younger, than many of the players expected to go in that range. 

To be fair, the Thunder had two other picks in the first round, so it wasn’t as much of a risk as it would have been for the Pistons, who only have the one pick, but if they could have flipped the Ivey deal, then used that pick to take on McCain instead of Huerter, they would be in much better shape. 

McCain is also not much of a risk given his age and salary, as he is under team control for two more seasons at $4.4 and 6.7 million, which will look like a huge bargain for OKC right as their payroll is set to get more expensive. 

McCain may not have fixed every problem for the Pistons, but he would have made their offseason a lot easier. 

McCain would have been a nice fit on the Pistons 

The Pistons head into the offseason looking for shooting and scoring as usual, and McCain could have provided a bit of both at a bargain price. Teams are loathe to trade away draft picks for fear of missing out on the next big thing, but the Pistons will be lucky if they find a rotation player with the 21st pick, much less someone who can start for the best team in the league in the playoffs. 

A platoon of Robinson/McCain would have the Pistons feeling pretty good about the guard position and allow them to focus on bigger needs, 

It’s a moot point now, but it does seem like the Pistons (and many other teams) missed a chance to get a young player with upside on a great contract. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow