It’s been a poorly kept secret that the Detroit Pistons would love to add a stretch big this offseason and they’ve been connected to several of them in free-agent and trade speculation.
After a wild first round that saw some inexplicable trades, including Joe Dumars/Troy Weaver’s choice to give up their unprotected 2026 pick to move up 10 spots to select Baltimore center Derik Queen, the Pistons could get lucky and see a rotation talent fall to them with the 37th pick.
Maxime Raynaud, Rasheer Fleming and Ryan Kalkbrenner all fit the mold of what the Pistons need and may prevent Detroit from having to make a costly addition this summer.
Detroit Pistons free agency, trades and a power forward
Regardless of what you think of Bobi Klintman, the Pistons’ biggest long-term need is at power forward, where they currently just have Tobias Harris, who is on an expiring deal.
You can never have too many big men who can shoot, and if you can find one in the second round that pops, it’s a huge advantage when it comes to team building.
The new CBA is brutal to teams that cross the tax aprons, as we’ve seen this summer with the recent champion Boston Celtics ditching two veterans to save $180 million in tax penalties.
Finding talent that can produce at the bottom of your payroll is crucial if you want to have more than one max player at the top. Teams need to keep a steady stream of cheap talent coming in, so hitting on picks outside of the lottery will be even more critical moving forward.
The Pistons are looking at expensive options like Naz Reid, who they’d have to compensate with a fat contract and Santi Aldama, who might require a sign and trade. If they could land a player in the second round that they feel might be able to fill a role in the rotation either this season or next, it could save them the cost of trying to find that guy in free agency or in a trade.
You wouldn't expect a second-round pick to come in and play heavy rotation minutes right away, but all of the players mentioned above are older upperclassmen who have more experience than most of the guys in the first round.
Hitting this pick is crucial for Trajan Langdon, as it is the only one he has this year and the Pistons need more developmental talent at the big man positions, especially players that can shoot.