After a lackluster NBA Finals ended with a thud, the offseason is officially open for business for the Detroit Pistons and the rest of the league.
Teams can start negotiating with their own free agents, which shouldn’t matter much to the Pistons, as all of them not named Simone Fontecchio will likely be shown the exit.
With the NBA Draft just over a week away, rumors are starting to heat up around the Pistons and their 5th pick.
They’ve been connected in speculation to everyone from the Bulls to the Pacers and Trail Blazers and there is still nothing close to a consensus about who they will choose if they do keep the 5th pick.
Matas Buzelis has been the most mentioned name, but a sleeper like Cody Williams is also suddenly gaining steam.
But the Pistons’ best chance to cash in may revolve around big man Donovan Clingan.
Detroit Pistons: Trading back in the NBA Draft
There are a number of teams reportedly interested in center Donovan Clingan, which makes sense.
He has the type of skillset that should play right away and possibly the highest floor in the Draft as a 7-foot-2 rim protector who has flashed skill as a connective playmaker on offense.
We came up with some ideas for possible trades around Clingan, but the best possibility may not have been mentioned.
According to Mike Scotto, the Memphis Grizzlies have set their sights on Clingan and will try to move up from their 9th pick, which make present an opportunity for Detroit.
The Detroit Pistons trade the 5th and 53rd picks along with Marcus Sasser to the Memphis Grizzlies for the 9th pick and GG Jackson
If the Pistons are going to trade back, they need to hold the other team’s feet to the fire and make sure the return is worth it.
That could be with a win-now player like Zach LaVine or a prospect to put into their pipeline of young talent.
In this trade, the Pistons take on 19-year-old GG Jackson and the 9th pick in exchange for Sasser, the 5th and 53rd picks.
Jackson exploded on the scene last season as the youngest player in the NBA, getting unexpected run after the Grizzlies were decimated with injuries.
He had some huge games for a bad team, including a 35-point outburst against the Warriors and 44 points against the Nuggets.
The question is whether the Grizzlies would even consider moving him for the chance to draft Clingan and the answer is probably no.
But this is the price I’m asking them to pay if I’m the Pistons, who have all of the leverage here.
The Grizzlies get their center of the future, a perfect fit with Jaren Jackson Jr., who prefers to play power forward. GG Jackson and the Grizzlies aren’t on the same timeline and Clingan can help them win now.
They’d be sacrificing future talent for the present, while still getting a high-upside player in Clingan. They’d also get some guard depth with Marcus Sasser, an older prospect who is ready to fill a role right now behind Ja Morant.
But what about the Pistons? Would this deal be too much to give up?
The Detroit Pistons cleaning up past draft mistakes
The worst part about this is that the Pistons could have just drafted Jackson themselves, but instead traded up to take a 23-year-old combo guard whose ceiling is a bench scorer. One of Troy Weaver's parting gifts was another whiff on a draft steal.
They could have had Jackson without trading anything to get him, and he is a perfect fit as an athletic forward who has flashed shooting chops and defensive ability.
If the Pistons could get the Grizzlies to do this deal, they’d probably sign and run out of the room, as it would be the equivalent of adding another high-end lottery pick just to move back four spots in an uncertain draft. Given what we saw last season, Jackson may go in the top five if he were in this draft.
They might still be able to get a prospect like Cody Williams, Ron Holland or Dalton Knecht with the 9th pick, so the Pistons could address two needs and add to their pipeline of young talent.
Detroit could then spend the rest of the offseason tweaking the roster with free-agent additions and trades that balanced out their youth with some experience.
Do the Grizzlies see Jackson as part of the future? Do they think his 48 games last season were real or just the product of a young player getting a lot of usage on a bad team?
If I’m Detroit, I’d find out just how desperate Memphis is to move up and try to use that desire for Clingan as a weapon against them.