The Pistons have been linked to big trade targets at the power forward position, but they might already have their long-term solution on the team. Last night, Isaiah Stewart had a career-high 31 points while leading the Pistons to a win over the Bulls without Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren. It was yet another show of Detroit's dominance in the East and Stewart's own growth.
The Pistons don't need a big trade to be contenders
Stewart has shown steady improvement all season long. He's regained his 3-point shooting and increased his finishing rate drastically while maintaining his world-class defense. With his versatility on both ends, he's also allowed the Pistons to thrive with double-big lineups. In last night's game, he started the game with Paul Reed and the two found success together.
Despite being the longest-tenured Piston, Stewart is still just 24 years old. He's grown up in the Pistons envrionment and molded himself into the perfect tough role player for this team. He's also on an extremely cheap contract that has some of the best value in the league. Over the next three seasons, Stewart is making just $15 million per season (a bargain for a rotation player in today's NBA) and the last year is a team option.
On the other hand, the Pistons have been rumored as a destination for big-time trade targets at the power forward position. Guys like Lauri Markkanen or Michael Porter Jr have been thrown around. But the Pistons are wise to hold off on them so far. Acquiring either of those stars would take a big haul and possibly throw off team chemistry.
We've already seen how declining trade value can force a team to give up a star for little in return. Trae Young was just shipped from the Hawks to the Wizards for only CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. No draft picks even changed hands in the deal. If the Pistons still want to bring in a shooting forward, they could do so at a cheaper price by waiting it out.
In the meantime, the Pistons are not desperate to make a move by any means. Even without their three leading scorers this season (Tobias Harris was also out), they blew out Chicago. Stewart's brilliance and surprising offensive explosion was the catalyst but he wasn't the only Piston to shine. Right now, Detroit is looking like a team ready to make a deep postseason run and thoroughly demolishing the teams it's expected to beat.
If Stewart can continue to shine in a power forward role, it'll save the Pistons front office a lot of headaches. Not only does it flesh out the position for the future, it also carves out a spot in the starting lineup for one of the team pillars.