It’s time to make a push to make sure Detroit plays postseason basketball
The play of the Detroit Pistons this season is surpassing even the most optimistic Pistons fans’ expectations heading into the year. After winning 14 games last year under He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named, Detroit is now a .500 team roughly 40 games into the season with their eyes on the play-in. DraftKings has the Pistons making the play-in set at -235 odds, which is essentially saying the probability is at 70%. As the season continues, it’s looking more and more likely that Detroit will see some sort of postseason basketball, even if it is only the play-in tournament.
As of Jan. 11th, the difference between the 4th-seeded Bucks and the 10th-seeded Bulls in the Eastern Conference is only three games. The Pistons, currently in the 8th seed, are only one game behind the Bucks. We could see a lot of movement in the standings over the second half of the season, especially with how close it is after the top three teams. The injured Magic, the up-and-down Pacers, and the drama-filled Heat are the three teams above Detroit right now, and it’s quite possible the Pistons could make it to the 6th seed by the end of the year to make the playoffs and skip the play-in tournament altogether. Why not go for it?
With the recent rumors that Detroit could be shifting their strategy at the trade deadline, let’s take a look at a few trades the Pistons could make to improve their team. Also, a big thank you to DBB’s Cap Guru Kyle Metz for helping build these deals.
Bunting for a single: A New Orleans reunion
In this deal, Detroit acquires Lonzo Ball for Simone Fontecchio and the 2025 Denver second-rounder. Due to the amount of cap space ($14 million) that the Pistons have, they can take on Lonzo’s $21 million. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, so the worst-case scenario is that Detroit got off of Simone’s second year of $8 million. Best case scenario, things click after reuniting with Fred Vinson and Trajan Langdon, and Lonzo re-signs with Detroit as a true facilitating point guard that can defend and shoot.
Chicago makes this trade because it has a million point guards and it doesn’t look like it’s going to retain Lonzo. For their troubles, they get a late second-round pick, and Simone’s three-point shooting in the frontcourt helps space the floor for their young guards.
Rotation (starter – bench):
PG: Cade Cunningham – Lonzo Ball
SG: Tim Hardaway Jr – Malik Beasley
SF: Ausar Thompson – Ron Holland
PF: Tobias Harris – Bobi Klintman
C: Jalen Duren – Isaiah Stewart
Hitting a double: A cheap buy for a combo guard
In this trade, Detroit acquires CJ McCollum in return for Tim Hardaway Jr, Simone Fontecchio, and Denver’s 2025 second-rounder.
CJ would start next to Cade to replace the offensive output from Jaden Ivey. CJ could essentially take the same role as Ivey by also being the bench PG when Cade sits. Losing THJ and Simone would open up more minutes for Ausar, Ron, and Bobi. Looking ahead, Detroit would then have a $31m expiring deal in CJ and a $27m expiring in Tobias next year to make a trade for a star player. CJ could come off the bench and he could play next to both Cade or Ivey whenever the other sits.
New Orleans does this deal because they get off of CJ’s money next year and open up SG minutes for Jordan Hawkins. NO has to move forward with Dejounte Murray at PG and their wing minutes will be soaked up by Hawkins, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy III. They don’t exactly have a PF outside of Zion Williamson, so Simone could take those backup forward minutes, and since CJ is the best player in this deal, NO gets a second rounder from this upcoming draft in return.
Rotation (starter – bench):
PG: Cade Cunningham – CJ McCollum
SG: CJ McCollum – Malik Beasley
SF: Ausar Thompson – Ron Holland
PF: Tobias Harris – Bobi Klintman
C: Jalen Duren – Isaiah Stewart
A three-team triple: Capitalizing on cap space
Here’s an example of what a three-team deal could look like. It’s a risk, but not one that costs Detroit any young players.
Denver does this deal as they go all-in on a Murray-LaVine-Jokic trio while also picking up a vet wing in Torrey Craig. Chicago does this deal because their 2025 first rounder is top-10 protected – they need to get worse quick in order to keep their pick or else it goes to San Antonio. The Bulls get off the LaVine deal to take on THJ, Simone, and four years of Zeke Nnaji, but Detroit sends them two late seconds in return.
Detroit does this deal because they’re capitalizing on being the right team at the right time. They’ve got the extra cap space and can take advantage of teams who need a third team to help complete a deal. In this case, they’re trading THJ, Simone, and two seconds for a 26-year-old 6’10” sharpshooter who’s under contract for the next 2.5 seasons. MPJ would certainly bring the frontcourt scoring that this team has been sorely lacking. How about a starting lineup where Cade is the shortest player? Sign me up for that.
Rotation (starter – bench):
PG: Cade Cunningham – Marcus Sasser
SG: Ausar Thompson – Malik Beasley
SF: Michael Porter Jr – Ron Holland
PF: Tobias Harris – Bobi Klintman
C: Jalen Duren – Isaiah Stewart
Hitting for a homerun: Landing Cade his #2
We’re swinging for the fences with this one – but it has the biggest chance of being a strikeout, too.
It either works by Brandon Ingram playing off of Cade, shooting less midranges and more threes, and becoming the #2 on offense that we’ve been looking for since Cade was drafted – or BI won’t accept anything less than a max contract and the injuries continue.
New Orleans does this trade because they no longer have to worry about the headache Ingram has caused them and they get something for him before they lose him for nothing. Yves Missi and Jalen Duren can run NO’s center position for the foreseeable future, and they get the Toronto 2025 second rounder.
Rotation (starter – bench):
PG: Cade Cunningham – Marcus Sasser
SG: Ausar Thompson – Malik Beasley
SF: Brandon Ingram – Ron Holland
PF: Tobias Harris – Bobi Klintman
C: Isaiah Stewart – Paul Reed
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So, DBB – should the Pistons be buyers or sellers at the deadline? Which of these proposed deals would you want the Pistons to do?