NBA Trade Deadline Winners: Detroit Pistons

Winner: Detroit Pistons

While some trade deadline deals are made with only the current season in mind (rentals!), this year’s deadline featured many players (Michael Carter-Williams, Enes Kanter and Isaiah Thomas) who’ll be integral parts of their new team’s future for many years to come.

The Pistons pulled off a similar coup by bringing in Reggie Jackson.

The price for Jackson, a potential cornerstone of the franchise, was relatively little. D.J. Augustin was playing lights out in place of Brandon Jennings before the trade, but the Pistons obviously felt that Jackson was the better fit. The only other player Detroit relinquished was Kyle Singler, who developed into a solid role player, but wasn’t going to light the world on fire. The Pistons also traded away second round picks in 2017 and 2019.

Detroit is clearly banking on Jackson flourishing after playing in the shadows of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook a la James Harden. Jackson may not develop into a player who’ll lead the league in scoring like Hardin, but he has the potential to shine in Motown.

In addition to Jackson, the team brought in old friend Tayshaun Prince to replace Singler on the wing. Detroit gave up two surplus forwards in Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome to facilitate the move.

The Pistons made a huge improvement to their team, bringing in Jackson as the replacement for the injured Jennings. Should the team re-sign him this offseason, in addition to Greg Monroe, the Pistons will have a solid foundation to build upon with Andre Drummond, Jackson, Monroe, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Spencer Dinwiddie. The team will improve even more next season if Jennings can return healthy, or if the team can flip their old point guard for even more pieces.

Check out the rest of Know Hitter’s trade deadline “winners,” Philadelphia, Miami, Milwaukee and Boston. Stay tuned for the “losers” (Hint: there may be a mention of the Lakers). You can find more NBA coverage from Know Hitter here.

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