Pistons trading Monte Morris to Minnesota for two players, draft pick
Monte Morris recently returned to the court to play for his hometown team, but his time with the Pistons has come to an end.
Detroit is finalizing a trade to send the Flint native to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Shake Melton, Troy Brown Jr. and a second-round pick, a league source confirmed to The Detroit News on Wednesday.
It’s the second trade of the day for Detroit, which was originally reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic. A couple of hours prior, the Pistons traded Kevin Knox II and a 2024 second-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for sharpshooting forward Simone Fonteccio.
It was a bittersweet and brief return to Michigan for Morris, who missed the first 43 games of the season due to a right quad injury. He’s been available for Detroit’s last six games, where he totaled 4.5 points, two rebounds and 1.3 assists in 10.8 minutes per game. Morris arrived in Detroit as a veteran point guard who rarely turned the ball over, but his inavailability was the determining factor in the move, a source said.
Morris’ expiring $9.8 million contract will move to Minnesota for Brown and Melton, who both could become unrestricted free agents this summer due to their team options for the 2024-25 season.
Brown, a 6-foot-6 forward, averaged 4.7 points and shot 36.9% from 3 for the Timberwolves in 37 games this season. Milton totaled 4.2 points with 1.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 38 games.
Wednesday’s transaction marks Pistons general manager Troy Weaver’s third trade in less than a month after acquiring Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari from the Washington Wizards on Jan. 14 in exchange for Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Livers.
As a result of the trade, the Pistons currently have 16 guaranteed contracts, which is one player of the allotted amount of 15.
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
@MikeACurtis2
