Nets trade opens 2 doors for the Pistons

The Detroit Pistons haven’t been involved in either of the big trades made so far this season, but doors are opening. 

The Brooklyn Nets continued the dismantling of their roster by trading Dorian Finney-Smith to the Lakers in a four-player deal that sent D’Angelo Russell back to the Nets. 

The Lakers were able to get it done with an expiring contract, young player and three second-round picks, establishing the market for what it will take to land a 3-and-D wing before the deadline. 

This trade should get the dominoes falling even faster as the Nets clearly have an agenda to lose as many games as possible and try to reload next offseason. 

The Cam Johnson trade 

Now that DFS and Dennis Schroder have been traded, it seems like a matter of time before the Nets trade 28-year-old Cameron Johnson, who is having a career year averaging over 19 per game while shooting 43 percent from long range. 

The Detroit Pistons could certainly use an upgrade from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Johnson would represent that, but given the Nets are reportedly asking for multiple first-round picks, it’s unlikely Detroit will be Johnson’s new home. 

The Pistons don't have multiple first-round picks to trade and Trajan Langdon has also seemed reluctant to add players with rich injury histories, probably PTSD from being the GM of a team with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram on it. 

Johnson has been healthy this season but has only played 60 or more games twice in his career. 

That doesn’t mean the Pistons won’t be involved, as they have cap space, a medium sized expiring contract in Tim Hardaway Jr., as well as an open roster spot, so any big trade could go through them as a third team. 

The most likely outcome is that Johnson is traded to the Thunder, who have plenty of picks, but it will be interesting to see if the Nets want to take back additional years for players and whether the Pistons can get involved. 

The Nets are now officially tanking 

If it wasn’t obvious before, the Nets are now tanking and will likely try to bottom out for maximum chances at the top pick in 2025. 

Brooklyn is only two games behind the Pistons for the final play-in spot, so has some work to do to get anywhere near the likes of Washington, New Orleans, Toronto or Charlotte, but you can write them off as competition for a play-in spot. 

That really only leaves 11 teams in the East that are competing this season, as the Wizards, Raptors, Hornets and now Nets are all in tank mode.  

That certainly doesn’t guarantee anything for Detroit, but their play-in odds just increased.