Pistons trade deadline scenarios: Do deals with Lakers, Knicks or Thunder make sense?

Enduring one of the worst seasons in NBA history, the Detroit Pistons sit at a crossroads ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

As The Athletic reported last week, the Pistons don’t appear to be interested in trading  Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey or Jalen Duren at this point, and aren’t rushing to move on from Bojan Bogdanović, Alec Burks and Isaiah Stewart in the immediate future unless an offer is too good to turn down.

So, how does Detroit get better this season?

In preparation for what could be a wild week ahead for the Pistons as it pertains to the trade deadline, I reached out to my colleagues who cover the Los Angeles Lakers (Jovan Buha), New York Knicks (Fred Katz) and Oklahoma City Thunder (Andrew Schlecht) to discuss potential trades between Detroit and those three teams.

Each proposal was made with consideration to intel on the Pistons reported last week. Let’s get into it.

Lakers

Pistons receive: Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick

Lakers receive: Bojan Bogdanović and Alec Burks

James L. Edwards III (Pistons beat writer): Lakers fans will likely despise and probably feel disrespected by this offer, but hear me out.

Los Angeles would receive two players with $30 million worth of team-friendly deals — Bogdanović has a partially-guaranteed year left on his contract after this season and Burks is an unrestricted free agent after the season — who immediately bolster a Lakers squad that takes the fewest 3s in the league, is in the middle of the pack in conversion of those 3s and has a bottom-10 offense in the NBA. Both Bogdanović and Burks could take a big scoring load off of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, while giving the Lakers some flexibility for next summer to add to the roster.

Detroit gets a likely solid-to-good draft pick and rotational players on the wing, which are needed in the Motor City. The Pistons are looking for good draft capital and/or good players to justify losing Burks and Bogdanović, and a deal like this accomplishes both.

Jovan Buha (Lakers beat writer): The Lakers would quickly reject this deal. They have no interest in trading Reaves. The exception would be in a deal for a clear-cut third All-Star, with a name like Lauri Markannen being the only player of that ilk potentially available on the trade market (and an unrealistic option for the Lakers, to be clear). They aren’t considering trading Reaves for Dejounte Murray, for example, and I think most would say Murray is better than Bogdanović. LA’s threshold for giving up their 2029 first-round pick is lower, and I think they’d certainly consider it in this type of deal. But to give up their two best assets — Reaves and that first — I think they’d want a better headliner and more collective defense.

That said, the Lakers have long coveted both Bogdanović and Burks, individually, so I think they’d be interested in trying to find a framework along these lines. I think they would counter with something like Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Christie and a first-rounder. The Pistons probably wouldn’t accept that. I don’t see a clear trade between these two that lands Reaves in Detroit. But I could see something more realistic in which the Lakers give up some combination of players and a first for Bogdanović, if Detroit is open to it.

Knicks

Pistons receive: 2024 first-round pick (via Detroit), Evan Fournier, Isaiah Hartenstein and Quentin Grimes

Knicks receive: Bojan Bogdanović and Alec Burks

Edwards: Similar to the trade above, from the Pistons’ perspective, this is a way to combine Burks and Bogdanović to get both good players and a pick. In this instance, Detroit gets back that annoying first-round pick that has haunted them since trading it in 2020. Getting that pick back allows the Pistons more flexibility to trade future picks going forward in order to try to acquire a bigger name either before the deadline or this summer. Fournier has a team option for next season, Hartenstein is an expiring contract and Grimes is a young player who would help Detroit now and in the future.

For the Knicks, they get two playmakers and shooters to bolster their bench and playmaking behind Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, while also not being tied to either contract after this season if it doesn’t work out.

That’s my logic. Let’s see what Fred Katz has to say.

Fred Katz (Knicks beat writer): If I’m New York, I’m denying this offer. Burks is a known quantity, a former Knick who can shoot the 3 and create his own shot, but his value shouldn’t be higher than one or two second-round picks. Bogdanović, meanwhile, made more sense for the Knicks before the OG Anunoby trade. The outgoing pieces are too much, as well. Hartenstein is too important to part with, especially considering the team doesn’t know if or when Mitchell Robinson will return from his ankle injury. Hartenstein has rolled in his stead. The current Knicks starters are outscoring opponents by 19.3 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass.

Grimes is on the trade market — and, as I’ve reported, the Knicks are actively fielding calls about him. I could see them trading him, but I imagine the return would have to address a position of need. The Knicks could use a guard to hold up the offense with Brunson off the court. If they’re parting with Grimes and a first-round pick and their starting center — a move that would promote Jericho Sims or Precious Achiuwa into the starting lineup, which would be far from ideal — the return would have to be much greater than the one here.

The Knicks have expressed interest in Burks, according to sources, so I would counter with an offer built around just him. Because he makes $10.5 million this season, matching salaries becomes difficult. The Knicks don’t have many guys who earn in that range. But one maneuver they could try is to trade Achiuwa for someone who makes a little north of the big man’s salary (somewhere in the $5.2 million range) and then flip that guy along with a second-rounder or two for Burks. It’s a different trade than the one James proposes, but it would make more sense for New York and would still land Detroit draft compensation for a veteran on an expiring contract.

Thunder

Pistons receive: Davis Bertāns and a 2024 first-round pick (via Utah)

Thunder receive: Bojan Bogdanović

Edwards: This one is pretty straightforward. Detroit would get a first-round pick to add to its asset pool — use this pick and a future one to make a big move — and get a player with a partially-guaranteed deal who can shoot.

Bertans is nowhere near the player Bogdanović is, but he can make open shots and provide spacing.

The primary objective with this trade is for Detroit to maintain financial flexibility and add a first-round pick, while Oklahoma City gets a useful player as it tries to make a serious push to the Western Conference finals.

Andrew Schlecht (Thunder podcaster/writer): I think this deal makes a lot of sense on paper for both teams — Pistons get a pick and the Thunder get a win-now player.

However, I’m not sure Bogdanović is the kind of player OKC will be looking for. His lack of rebounding and defense would be a concern. Also, can OKC give Bogdanović a big enough role to satisfy him? Bogdanović hasn’t taken less than 10 shots per game since Kevin Durant was on the Thunder. Would he be willing to come off the bench and be the sixth man? The thing the Thunder don’t want right now is to disrupt what they have cooking with Shai, Chet and Jalen Williams, and I fear adding Bojan would take shots away from those 3 in some capacity.

I think this is about as fair of a deal as you can make between these two teams. I just don’t know if I see a match for Bojan and the Thunder. My counter: Send Mike Muscala back to OKC for a future second-round pick and Poku.

(Photo of Bogdanović and Reaves: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)