We’re just weeks away from the start of the 2022-23 NBA season but big NBA trades have still been happening around the league. While it seems unlikely that anything will top the recent Donovan Mitchell trade, two teams still made a swap that could have a big impact on the coming season.
On Thursday, the Detroit Pistons acquired small forward Bojan Bogdanovic from the Utah Jazz. In exchange, the Jazz acquired center Kelly Olynyk and point guard Saben Lee.
Bogdanovic averaged over 18 points per game in 204 starts for the Jazz, with a career-high 20.2 points per game coming during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.
Olynyk started just one game out of 40 for the Pistons last year, both career lows. Lee similarly started no games for Detroit while averaging just 16 minutes per game over 37 games.
The move has led to a lot of raised eyebrows among NBA fans. Some feel that this is the kind of move that a playoff contender would make and are unsure if the Pistons are at the point where trading for Bogdanovic would help them. Others have similar questions for how the move benefits the Jazz:
Why would the pistons trade for him they’re not in contention
— Angel G (@MoneyTeamAngel) September 22, 2022
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Significant blow to contenders hoping to get Bojan. Pistons have had a good offseason but interesting fit for Detroit’s timeline.
— Warren Shaw 🇯🇲 (@ShawSportsNBA) September 22, 2022
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First trade for the Jazz that I don’t understand. How does this do anything?
— Ute James (@RaigeGage) September 22, 2022
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We sure Detroit isn’t a Playoff team next year?
— tom k. (@FishKzor) September 22, 2022
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It certainly is a curious move for the Detroit Pistons given where they are in the NBA hierarchy right now. They’ve won just 63 games in the past three seasons, but have given head coach Dwane Casey one more chance to turn things around.
As for the Jazz, they’re getting ready for a new era of basketball under Will Hardy but have decided to go into rebuilding mode by trading Rudy Goebert and Donovan Mitchell.
Which of these two teams will the trade benefit more?