Trajan Langdon has mostly hit home runs for the Detroit Pistons since taking over as president of basketball operations, but one move he’d like to have back is swapping out Tim Hardaway Jr. for Caris LeVert.
THJ was a salary dump acquisition for the Pistons who turned out to be an important veteran last season, providing the consistent 3-point shooting that he has for his entire career.
The Pistons let him walk in free agency and instead pursued Caris LeVert with the idea that they needed more ball handling and shot creation, which THJ does not provide.
The move obviously hasn’t killed the 1st-place Pistons, but they are a team that still struggles to find 3-point shooting and THJ is providing it in abundance for his new team.
Caris LeVert giving half the points of THJ at a steep cost
LeVert has struggled to make an impact for the Pistons so far this season, as he’s averaging just eight points per game and has not provided the secondary ball handling the Pistons were hoping for when they signed him.
LeVert and Jaden Ivey have been a disaster as a duo off the bench, and it’s become clear that both of them would benefit from playing with a point guard. LeVert was also thought to be a defensive upgrade from THJ, and he hasn’t been much of that either, so the primary benefits to this swap have yet to materialize.
Meanwhile, THJ is having one of the best seasons of his career, averaging 14 a game on over 41 percent from 3-point range on seven attempts per game, the exact kind of 3-point shooting that would help open up the bench offense for players like Ivey.
THJ is also the epitome of consistency, as he’s shot around the same percentage his entire career and rarely misses games, something you also can’t say about LeVert, who has always been streaky and has a long injury history that has gotten longer this season.
I’ve tried to defend LeVert, as he has been battling nagging injuries this season and still hasn’t had one of his signature games where he drops 30 points off the bench, something Hardaway Jr. did recently against the Wizards, part of a string of 8-straight games where he hit double digits, including three games of 25+ points.
LeVert has only reached double-digits 12 times all season and is still averaging under 10 points a game, lowest of his entire career.
The worst part is that LeVert is making $14 million a season for this year and another, while THJ is on arguably the best value contract in the league, averaging 14 ppg on a veteran’s minimum of just over $2 million.
It was a tactical decision that has backfired on Trajan Langdon, as the Pistons are desperate for 3-point shooting and LeVert isn’t providing any of the things that made him a theoretical upgrade over THJ.