Pistons reportedly interested in confusing trade target

Trajan Langdon made it clear this offseason that he wasn’t going to rush things with the Detroit Pistons. 

Instead of making sweeping change, he got rid of some dead weight, added a few veterans to the core and set a timeline of two years with their contracts. 

The Pistons should certainly win more games next season, which may not be the primary goal as they are trying to evaluate players in a better environment to see who fits, who to keep and who to trade away. 

If things work out, in two seasons, the Pistons will have a defined core based around All-Star Cade Cunningham, with expiring contracts and money coming off the books to add another star. 

We saw stars change teams recently when Julius Randle was swapped as part of a package for Karl-Anthony Towns in a deal that will affect the Pistons. 

But it was also a deal they reportedly tried to get involved in themselves, as the Pistons were one of several teams to inquire about trading for Julius Randle according to Ian Begley. 

Randle is a target that doesn’t make much sense given the Pistons’ current roster construction, but he would have potentially fit the timeline and definitely made them better. 

Detroit Pistons rumors: Trading for Julius Randle 

It’s a moot point now, as Randle has been dealt to Minnesota, but I am curious as to what the Pistons might have offered for him in a trade. 

Detroit does have around $10 million in cap space available, so wouldn’t have had to send out matching contracts. Isaiah Stewart almost certainly would have been involved, but beyond that it’s hard to guess Randle’s value as a guy with only one year and a player option left on his deal who is coming off an injury. 

It’s also hard to see how he would fit on Detroit given that they just went out and signed power forward Tobias Harris. Moving Harris to the three to put Randle at the four makes no sense considering the Pistons spend the offseason trying to add spacing for Cade Cunningham. 

Randle is good, and his contract does fit the timeline Langdon set with Harris, Simone Fontecchio, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr., all players whose contracts do not extend beyond two seasons.

Randle is more than a salary dump, as he’s an All-Star when healthy, so it’s difficult to imagine how or why the Pistons would have been involved in trading for him. It will remain a hypothetical, as the deal is done, but it does show that Trajan Langdon is exploring any and all opportunities to improve the team.