Top remaining trade targets and the Pistons chances of landing them

Trajan Langdon and the Detroit Pistons went into this offseason with a plan and they have executed it so far. 

The Pistons wanted to pick up some assets for taking on the contract of a still useful player and did when they traded for Tim Hardaway Jr. They were also able to use cap space to move up in the draft, taking Bobi Klintman with the 37th pick. 

Langdon clearly wanted to avoid any long-term deals, so signed Tobias Harris to a two-year contract that shouldn’t hurt the bottom line financially and will help Detroit’s young players in their development. 

The Pistons still have around $26 million remaining to spend, and with the group of viable free agents shrinking, may turn to a trade to use it. 

Here are the top remaining targets and the Pistons chances of landing one of them. If you are hoping for another big name to come to Detroit, you will probably have to wait. 

Lauri Markkanen: 0% 

I’ll let the great Debbie Gibson summarize the Pistons’ chances of landing Lauri Markkanen: 

Heading into the offseason, the Jazz kept saying they had no interest in moving Markkanen, but after seeing what the Knicks gave up for Mikal Bridges, that tune changed. 

The Jazz aren’t good enough to compete right now and not bad enough to tank, so cashing in on Markkanen may be their best move. 

They are going to ask for something like a young player and five picks or so, so the Pistons aren’t even in the conversation. Even if Detroit were to offer up Ivey and Duren, they’d still come up short, as Utah is going to hold out. 

The OKC Thunder are the team to watch here, though they have already made impact additions with Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. Not too many other teams have the assets to offer, and that includes the Detroit Pistons. So as Debbie said, this one is only in our dreams.