Detroit Pistons trade rumors
Insider Marc Stein (Subscription) reported that the Detroit Pistons are interested in trading for Tim Hardaway Jr. from the Mavericks:
Detroit has emerged as a potential trade destination for Dallas' Tim Hardaway Jr., league sources tell @TheSteinLine.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 25, 2024
More around-the-league NBA notes: https://t.co/tki1YQMQyH
My first instinct was to throw up in my mouth and tap out as a fan. Are we really doing this again?!
After a whole season of rightfully complaining how little the Pistons did in free agency and trades last season, does Langdon really want to start by making a move straight out of the Troy Weaver handbook?
An aging player. Check. Overpaid. Check. Team desperate to get rid of him. Check. No good teams want him. Check. Sounds like a Piston!
Readers tried to console me by saying, “we'll get an asset!” What asset exactly? It’s hard to imagine Dallas giving up a first-round pick just to get off of $17 million in salary, so what is Detroit getting? More second-round picks? Yay!
Sounds like Joe Harris. Who sounded like DeAndre Jordan, who sounded a bit like Nerlens Noel, or Alec Burks or Evan Fournier.
While THJ may not be as washed as those guys were, he fits the mold of an older player who is past his prime, won’t move the needle AT ALL and will basically take up a roster spot for no reason.
At what point did the Pistons become a repository for players no one else wants? Motor City? More like salary dump city. Do other GMs talk to each other and say, “need some cap space? Call Detroit! They’ll give you some and it won’t cost you anything!”
Nothing has happened yet, but this would be an uninspiring start to say the least. If THJ is folded into a bigger trade and the Pistons get a few assets, fine, but if this is another “we’ll take your problem for a 2nd-round pick,” then we may as well have just kept Weaver.
Langdon has expressed his willingness to take on contracts if there are assets attached, something the Pistons should have been doing for the last five years, and I am fine with that strategy. But there has to be an actual asset, not second-round picks that get passed around like a joint at a music festival.