Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings has yet to make his 2015-16 season debut while recovering from a torn left Achilles, but as it turns out, that debut might be being made for another team.
According to a report by Marc Berman of the New York Post on Sunday, Jennings is “available now” in trade talks as the NBA approaches its annual December 15 expiration date for trade restrictions.
Jennings, 26, suffered the injury last January and is progressing in his recovery. He could make his long-awaited return to action before the end of the month. But with $80 million man Reggie Jackson thriving as the Pistons’ starting point guard in his absence, averaging 19.4 points per game, 3.9 rebounds per game, and 6.4 assists per game this season, Jennings will almost certainly come back to a bench role and might now even be the odd man out in Detroit.
Berman also adds that “most teams would wait until Jennings plays a few games” before engaging in a prospective trade due to the serious nature of his injury, perhaps the most disastrous that a professional basketball player can suffer other than an ACL tear.
As such, it’s tough to foresee Jennings attracting much interest on the trade market. His injury combined with his brazen inefficiency even when he is on the court (Jennings is a 39.1 percent career shooter from the field) have driven his value into the ground. And with a bench role in Detroit unable to provide him the minutes and touches he needs to offset that inefficiency, Jennings’ value won’t be magically rehabilitated any time soon.
Jennings is an expiring contract, which might make him an asset worth pursuing for some teams. But expirings are worth less than ever before with the TV money-induced salary cap boom ready to open up hoards of cap room for anyone and everyone in just a matter of months now. As it stands right now, there’s simply just not enough to incentivize a deal for Jennings, a volume player who will completely reshape and dominate the offense wherever he goes.
There might still be a chance that the former Naismith Prep Player of the Year gets moved in a low-return, salary dump-type move. Berman, a New York-area writer, mentions the Knicks, a team that has been disappointed by the starting point guard play they’ve gotten from 34-year-old Jose Calderon this season, as one possibility. But Jennings’ value is too low right now to command anything of substance, meaning that despite Detroit’s best efforts, they may not be able to find a potential suitor for him.
H/T Rotoworld
