Does Detroit Pistons' trade with the New York Knicks look better or worse?

One of Troy Weaver’s biggest blunders over the last two seasons was waiting too long to trade Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. 

Everyone knew the two veterans would be traded at some point, but Weaver overplayed his hand, waited too long and had to take a deal that was likely not as valuable as one he could have had last season, when it was reported that there were two first-round picks on the table for Bogdanovic alone. It's not just about the picks, as the Pistons owe the Knicks one, so recouping two picks would have allowed them to add more draft assets in a trade. 

Instead, Troy Weaver waited and ended up trading both Bogdanovic and Burks to the Knicks for a poo-poo platter of Quentin Grimes, expiring contracts and two second-round picks. 

At the time, the deal looked ok for the Pistons, who were trying to open up minutes for their young players and needed to improve their defense. Grimes is also a 3-and-D fit with Cade Cunningham, so it looked like Troy Weaver had salvaged something. 

But most analysts called the Knicks the big winner of the trade deadline, as they added two bench scorers to a team competing for the playoffs without giving up much to get them. So how does that look now? 

Judging the Detroit Pistons’ trade with the New York Knicks  

Now that we have more data, the trade didn’t work out well for either team. Alec Burks has been horrible for the Knicks, shooting just 30 percent from the field and even worse from long range. He’s only averaging six points per game and has recently been a healthy scratch who is out of the rotation. 

Bogdanovic hasn’t been much better, as he is averaging just 10 a game on 43 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from long range, well below his career averages. 

Bogdanovic has shot the ball better of late and is still a guy who could get hot and win a big game for the Knicks. 

Even though the two veterans have not been great for the Knicks, it’s hard to say the Pistons did well in the trade. Quentin Grimes only played six games for the Pistons before being shut down for the season and he was terrible. All of the other players in the trade will mercifully be gone soon, so they really only got Grimes and two second-round picks out of the deal. 

At the time, it was probably the best they could do, but passing up two first-round picks for Bogdanovic last season was a huge error. 

Grimes may end up being good for Detroit or he may end up gone after next season himself. Either way, they missed their chance to maximize assets. So even though Bogdanovic and Burks were no big loss, the trade with the Knicks looks even worse now than it did at the time.