We are officially into fake trade season and few teams are involved in as many as the Detroit Pistons.
This could just be wishful thinking from the fanbase, as the team needs a shakeup, and fans dream of the best-case scenarios that could take the Pistons from the worst team in the league to a playoff contender.
Should the Detroit Pistons trade their young players?
The biggest question looming over the Pistons when it comes to trades is whether they will be willing to part with any of their young players in exchange for proven talent.
There are risks to both, of course, but overrating your own guys and holding onto them for too long has far worse consequences than trading them too early, as we saw recently with Killian Hayes, who the team had to cut with nothing coming in return.
There’s also the issue of assets, as in, if you take away the young players, the Pistons don’t have any outside of their 2024 draft pick, which will be in the top five, but in a draft without any highly coveted prospects.
That draft pick alone isn’t going to get you much unless it is the #1 pick and even then won’t reap nearly the assets it would have in the past, so if the Pistons want to improve this summer, packaging the pick with one or more of their young players is likely the only way to do it.
That’s exactly what happens in a recent trade proposal.
Detroit Pistons trade: Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren to the Nets
We’ve suggested loads of trades involving both Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, few where both are shipped out at the same time, but that’s what might have to happen if the Pistons want to land an impact player.
James Edwards III of The Athletic (Subscription) recently proposed this trade that has the Pistons shipping out two young players and their pick for proven talent that is a better fit with Cade Cunningham:
In this trade (JEIII assumes the Pistons got the #1 pick), the Pistons ship Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren and the #1 pick in the draft for two proven wing players and a future pick.
First off, I have doubts whether the Nets would agree to this, especially with that 2025 pick attached, as next year’s draft is more highly rated and has more star power at the top. It is lottery protected, but I’d almost rather have the 15th pick in next year’s draft than the 5th in this one.
But if the Nets do decide to rebuild, this would be a good start, as Ivey and Duren have both showed promise and they’d also have the number one pick, not a bad beginning to a rebuild.
But what about the Pistons, how does this trade grade out for them?
The Detroit Pistons should jump on a deal like this
We’ve proposed similar deals in the past, sending Ivey and the pick to the Nets for Bridges, but in this one, Duren gets added, which brings the Pistons back extra rewards.
This is precisely the type of trade the Pistons should be looking for, as Bridges is the perfect player to pair with Cade as a good defender who can shoot the 3-ball. Dorian Finney-Smith is a proven forward who is also a better fit and this would, as Edwards points out, completely set the Pistons up on the wing for the foreseeable future.
When you factor in that he then has the Pistons signing Nix Claxton in free agency, this is a move that would dramatically improve the defense. Who wouldn’t want to see Ausar and Bridges dominating the perimeter defensively?
If the Pistons want to follow the playoff blueprint the Knicks have provided, adding rim protectors and 3-and-D wings is a good start.
I’d love a trade like this, though the move did get polarized responses from fans, some of whom think this is way too much to give up for non-All-Stars.
But guess what? Ivey and Duren aren’t All-Stars either, not even close, and probably never will be, so selling high on them now to put a winner on the court is worth the risk.