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#pounditThursday, March 28, 2024

Report: Pistons could trade lottery pick to acquire win-now veteran

Stan Van Gundy

The Detroit Pistons’ No. 12 overall pick may be up for sale.

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports on Tuesday that the Pistons are open to trading that lottery selection in next month’s draft in exchange for a win-now veteran.

At face value, it seems like it would be a curious play by Detroit. They finished 37-45 last season (a full four games out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture), and for as relatively low of a pick as No. 12 overall, there is unlikely to be a veteran available who will immediately move the needle for them.

Still, the Pistons haven’t been great at developing homegrown young talent in recent years — Andre Drummond’s progress has been slow (as head coach Stan Van Gundy has acknowledged), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope remains a streaky, largely one-way player at the age of 24, and Stanley Johnson totally cratered in his sophomore season. Should Detroit deal the pick, it may be an implicit admission of that much as well as a signal of a new roster construction strategy based around established players.

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