The first big trade of the season happened yesterday and the Detroit Pistons were not part of it.
The Knicks acquired OG Anunoby for a package of players and a pick, and even though the Pistons may have missed out on Anunoby, the trade could still affect their future.
That's because Toronto likely isn't done, as Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Raptors could look to move forward Pascal Siakam next.
"Toronto is expected to continue to explore trades involving forward Pascal Siakam, but there are no deals with traction for him now, sources said."
The Detroit Pistons have been thin at power forward since Jerami Grant was traded and are even thinner right now with Isaiah Stewart out with a toe injury. Stewart may be better served as a do-it-all big man off the bench anyway, so he shouldn't stop the Pistons from exploring every option.
The elephant in the room with Pascal Siakam and the Detroit Pistons
In many ways, Siakam is exactly what the Pistons need, as he is a consistent scorer and solid defender who would take a lot of the pressure off Cade Cunningham to do everything.
As we saw last night when he dropped 35 efficient points in the loss, Siakam can carry an offense and when he gets it going, he's tough to stop. He'd give the Pistons what they don't currently have, which is a four who can create matchup problems on the offensive end.
The problem with Siakam is that he is on an expiring deal, so any team that trades for him will be taking a risk that he leaves as an unrestricted free agent.
He'll also be 30 years old in April and there is a risk that whoever signs him will be paying max dollars for non-prime years.
Given Detroit's complete failure to draw free agents of his stature, there is no way they could count on him re-signing in Detroit unless there was a "wink wink" deal in place for an extension.
The 2024 free agent class is not great, and Siakam is now one of the only guys who could move the needle for Detroit.
So should they trade for him now to get the inside track on his free agency? Do they even have what it takes? How will his contract status affect his trade value?