At the 2025 NBA trade deadline, the Detroit Pistons acquired journeyman point guard Dennis Schröder from the Golden State Warriors. A team that had lost for so long changed gear, and made a win-now trade.
They did so because they needed an extra playmaker. To ease the pressure on first-time All-Star Cade Cunningham, cover for the injured Jaden Ivey, and have multiple ball-handling and shot-creation opens to be able to better capitalise on all the shooters they had added the previous season, they needed another confident handler, especially in clutch situations. And they settled on Schröder, who had already been moved twice in the previous seven months.
Happily, the trade was an unabashed, unqualified success. The offence improved, Schröder was exactly as advertised, and the Pistons won their first postseason game in seventeen years, ending the longest playoff winless streak in American sports.
Schröder, however, is now heading to free agency. Part of the value in acquiring the German national team mainstay was the fact that his contract expired this summer, yet now, that bonus becomes a nuisance.
Mavericks Open About Wanting A Guard
The Pistons want to re-sign Schröder , because they still need everything they also needed at the time of his acquisition. However, they are not the only team that could use him.
The Dallas Mavericks are widely rumoured as wanting a point guard this summer. Kyrie Irving’s 2024-25 season was ended early by a torn ACL injury in March , and if Cooper Flagg (widely expected to be selected by the Mavericks after their incredibly fortuitous draft lottery win) is to have an optimal development environment from day one, he will need a good veteran point guard to help him get to the right spots.
Names they have been linked to include Boston Celtics veteran Jrue Holiday Рalthough they will be contending with the L.A. Clippers for this signature Рand Chris Paul, who will be leaving the San Antonio Spurs after one season. Schr̦der, with his good period of play for the Pistons to close out this season, merits being a part of that conversation.
To that end, speaking on his podcast Game Theory , Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports concocted a sign-and-trade idea that he figured might give the Mavericks what they wanted, while also giving the Pistons something that Jalen Rose believes they need . In an episode previewing the Pistons’ offseason , Vecenie hypothesised the Pistons signing and trading Schröder to the Mavericks in exchange for P.J. Washington, a six-year veteran power forward.
Pistons Gain Stretch Forward
Washington was acquired by the Mavericks at the 2024 Trade Deadline from the Charlotte Hornets in a deal that saw Grant Williams and Seth Curry go the other way. Having had buyer’s remorse on Williams, who they felt they overpaid the previous summer, the Mavericks replaced him with Washington, who has started all but two games he has played for the Mavericks since then.
In 57 games this season, Washington averaged 14.7 points , 7.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, shooting 38.1% on the all-important three-point shots that have made up slightly less than half of his field goal attempts in the NBA. A solid all-around player, Washington defends both the four and five spots adequately (including those far bigger than himself), helps across the backline, sets meaningful screens, and makes shots from all over.
In a vacuum, despite how polar opposite they are, Washington and Schr̦der are at roughly the same sort of level. Vecenie, however, concedes that Washington is better Рand more importantly, he is five years younger. The hypothetical trade therefore involves the Pistons sweetening the pot Рalthough, given their net positive draft capital position , this should be a surmountable obstacle.
Both Schröder and Washington have surpassed expectations for their current team, and neither has done anything to deserve being moved. Instead, both figure to be squeezed out by younger players. Flagg will take many of the minutes and shots currently given to Washington, while Ivey’s return will reduce Schröder’s role with the Pistons, no matter how good at it he was. Because of those factors, Irving’s injury, and the fact that Tobias Harris was only ever going to be with the Pistons for a short while no matter how things went – this idea starts to make sense.
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