Proposed Jaden Ivey trade would have pros and cons for the Pistons

There are cons of trading Jaden Ivey for Cam Thomas for the Detroit Pistons 

It’s hard to completely judge Thomas’ scoring numbers last season, as he was doing it on high usage and a lot of shot attempts on a bad team. 

He had a 30 percent usage rate last season, five percent higher than Ivey’s, and the same as Cade Cunningham's. 

If we think Ivey and Cunningham will have a hard time sharing the ball, Thomas has it in his hands even more. 

Thomas’ career high in assists came last season at 2.9 a game, not a lot for a guy who has the ball in his hands that much. Thomas is mostly looking to create for himself. 

Ivey’s assist numbers went down last season, but at the very least he could run the point off the bench and rack up dimes as the lead ball handler. Pass it to Thomas, and you aren’t likely to get it back. 

Thomas isn’t much more efficient than Ivey either, as he took over 18 shots per game to get his 22 points. His effective field goal percentage is barely higher than Ivey’s, so you could argue that Ivey would be getting those kinds of numbers if he were taking that many shots. 

Thomas only has one year remaining on his deal, so the Pistons would likely have to extend him now or risk losing him in restricted free agency. Thomas’ max potentially won’t be as high as Ivey’s, but he’s going to get a big raise, likely a year sooner than Ivey. 

The Pistons would lose a year of cheap team control. The flip side of that is that Thomas makes half of what Ivey does next season and is eligible for less on his next deal, though we’ll see how that shakes out. 

The Pistons would also be very thin at point guard, a position of need right now that would only grow without Ivey as an option. Neither Thomas nor Ivey are really point guards but Ivey has shown more knack for setting up teammates and not just himself. 

Both teams would be betting these players would thrive in more suitable roles on new teams and it is definitely an interesting idea. 

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