The Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards made what could be one of the most inconsequential trades in the history of the NBA yesterday.
The Pistons sent Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Livers along with two second-round picks, to the Wizards for the corpses of Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala.
The Pistons and Wizards are finalizing a deal to trade Marvin Bagley, Isaiah Livers, and two second-round picks for forwards Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 14, 2024
This was like re-shuffling the deckchairs on two sinking ships, as these are the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference and these players aren't going to change that.
If we get down to it, the Pistons essentially paid two second-round picks to get rid of Marvin Bagley III, as he is the only player involved who has a contract past this season.
But I'm going to break the trade into three parts and give each a grade even though it was ultimately meaningless in the landscape of an NBA that has left these two teams behind.
Grading Detroit Pistons trade with Washington Wizards: The Players
Danilo Gallinari must have been excited when he learned he was being traded from one of the worst teams in the league up until he found out that he was headed to the Pistons, the only team in the East worse than the Wizards.
But he likely won't be there long, as he is a buyout candidate, so for those thinking the Pistons got a stretch four, you can probably think again. Even if Gallinari does play for Detroit, he has been horrible this season, shooting a career-low 31 percent from 3-point range.
Muscala has been even worse, so even though these two players are better fits on paper, they are both washed and likely to be bought out, so it doesn't matter.
The only bonus to the Pistons, player-wise is that they get rid of Isaiah Livers, who was arguably their worst player this season, as well as Marvin Bagley III, who wasn't even in the rotation anyway and can't defend or shoot outside of five feet.
There's nothing to be excited about here, but at least the Pistons got players who are theoretically better fits even if neither of them ever plays in Detroit.
Grade: D
Grading Detroit Pistons trade with Washington Wizards: The Money
This trade was all about money, both for the present and the future.
The biggest part of this deal is that the Pistons no longer have Marvin Bagley III's $12.5 million on the books for next season, as both Gallinari and Muscala are expiring contracts
According to the great Keith Smith at Spotrac the Pistons will now have around $50.3 million in cap space (if they keep Bojan Bogdanovic) and $66.1 million if they buy Bogey out or trade him before the deadline.
This will give Detroit more cap space than any other team this offseason, but we've been down this road before, as this has been the case for the last three years and the Pistons have nothing to show for it.
With his job now hanging in the balance, you have to believe Troy Weaver is looking to make a splash either at the trade deadline or next offseason. We should probably all be equally excited and terrified by that prospect.
This trade also created a $5.7 million trade exception for Detroit, so they saved around $4 million this season and opened up at least $10 million for next offseason.
Grade: Incomplete*
*Financially this looks great for Detroit, but all of their mythical financial flexibility doesn't matter unless they do something with it, so I am saving my grade until the Pistons do something other than be more "nimble."
Grading Detroit Pistons trade with Washington Wizards: The Picks
Second-round picks come and go in the NBA and there are always ways to pick up extra ones if you need them.
But the Pistons gave up two second-rounders to get Marvin Bagley III in the first place and now had to give up two more to get rid of him. This is an admission that this move was a complete disaster.
The Pistons traded assets (not much but still) to get a guy no one wanted, and gave him a ridiculous extension when he was going to be a restricted free agent that literally NOT ONE TEAM was bidding on. Troy Weaver bid against himself for some reason, gave MBIII a three-year extension and now has to pay to get rid of him after 86 games played and zero positive impact made.
The only plus side is that for once the Pistons weren't the ones taking on useless second-round picks for a salary dump, but otherwise, this was a trainwreck, more an admission of guilt than anything.