Detroit Pistons Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks Trade Dewayne Dedmon To Pistons For Tony Snell

November 20th, 2020 at 2:35pm CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 20: The Hawks and Pistons have officially completed their swap, as detailed below, per a press release from Atlanta. As expected, the Hawks have already waived Thomas.

NOVEMBER 19: The Hawks and Pistons have agreed to a trade that will send center Dewayne Dedmon to Detroit, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Wings Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas will head to Atlanta in the swap, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The move essentially sees both teams trade from areas of depth. Dedmon, acquired at last season’s deadline from Sacramento, became expendable in Atlanta with the Hawks expecting Clint Capela back from injury this year and also preparing to incorporate lottery pick Onyeka Okongwu into their frontcourt.

Meanwhile, trading Snell and Thomas will open up more minutes on the wing in Detroit for the likes of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Sekou Doumbouya, and Saddiq Bey, observes James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Dedmon will earn $13.3MM in 2020/21 and also has a $13.3MM cap hit for ’21/22, though that second year is only partially guaranteed for $1MM, per Basketball Insiders. Snell is on a $12.2MM expiring contract, while Thomas’ minimum-salary contract for ’20/21 only includes a partial guarantee. In other words, the deal is close to salary-neutral.

It remains to be seen how many of these players will be part of their new teams’ plans for next season. Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press suggests (via Twitter) that the Pistons aren’t done dealing and he wouldn’t assume Dedmon will stick around.

Clippers Acquire Daniel Oturu

November 19th, 2020 at 10:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

NOV 19: The trade sending Oturu’s draft rights to the Clippers is now official, the team announced in a press release. The Clippers actually acquired Oturu’s draft rights from the Timberwolves – rather than the Knicks – in exchange for Detroit’s 2023 second-round pick and the rights to 2017 second-rounder Mathias Lessort.

Minnesota will now flip Detroit’s 2023 second-rounder, along with Immanuel Quickley‘s draft rights, to the Knicks for the draft rights to Leandro Bolmaro. The eventual outcome will be the same, but the order of operations will be a little different than anticipated.

NOV 18: The Knicks selected University of Minnesota center Daniel Oturu with the No. 33 pick but will ship him to the Clippers for a 2023 second-rounder, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst tweets.

That future second-rounder will be a pick that the Pistons owe the Clippers, Windhorst adds another tweet.

After selecting Dayton forward Obi Toppin with their lottery pick at No. 8, New York have been bouncing up and down the first and second rounds.

The Knicks acquired the No. 23 overall selection from the Jazz for the No. 27 and 38 picks, then shipped that pick to the Timberwolves for the No. 25 and 33 picks. They used the No. 25 pick on Kentucky point guard Immanuel Quickley, the SEC Player of the Year.

Oturu averaged 20.1 PPG and 11.3 RPG in 33.9 MPG as a sophomore last season. He’ll give the Clippers another big body that new coach Tyronn Lue can try to mold into a rotation piece.

Nets, Clippers, Pistons Complete Kennard/Shamet Deal

November 19th, 2020 at 8:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets, Clippers, and Pistons have officially completed a three-team trade, Brooklyn announced in a press release. The deal is an amalgamation of a series of moves that were previously reported separately. Here’s what the swap looks like as a whole:

Nets acquire Landry Shamet (from Clippers), Bruce Brown (from Pistons), and the draft rights to Reggie Perry (No. 57 pick; from Clippers).
Clippers acquire Luke Kennard (from Pistons), Justin Patton (from Pistons), the draft rights to Jay Scrubb (No. 55 pick; from Nets), the Trail Blazers’ 2023 second-round pick (from Pistons), the Pistons’ 2024 second-round pick, the Pistons’ 2025 second-round pick, and the Pistons’ 2026 second-round pick.
Pistons acquire Dzanan Musa (from Nets), Rodney McGruder (from Clippers), the draft rights to Saddiq Bey (No. 19 pick; from Nets), the draft rights to Jaylen Hands (from Nets), the Raptors’ 2021 second-round pick (from Nets), and cash (from Clippers).

Got all that?

Besides combining these three trades into one giant transaction, the three teams exchanged a few more pieces that weren’t previously reported — most notably, the Clippers received a whopping four future second-round picks from Detroit as part of the deal. Patton and Hands’ draft rights also weren’t mentioned in previous reports, though they’re minor pieces.

The most important parts of the deal from Brooklyn’s perspective are Shamet and Brown, who will compete for backcourt minutes in 2020/21. The Clippers acquire Kennard, a knockdown outside shooter who should fit in well alongside L.A.’s stars, and stock up on future second-round picks. And the Pistons were able to land a top-20 pick that allowed them to nab Bey, a prospect who had been viewed as a potential lottery pick entering draft night.

Pistons Won’t Extend Qualifying Offer To Thon Maker

November 19th, 2020 at 5:50pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Center Thon Maker will enter unrestricted free agency after the Pistons opted not to make him a qualifying offer ahead of his fifth NBA season, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The decision means that Maker will bypass restricted free agency in the open market.

The 7′ Maker was drafted by the Bucks with the No. 10 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, one spot ahead of future All-Star center Domantas Sabonis, who was selected with the No. 11 pick by the Magic. Maker may struggle to match or exceed the $4,861,854 qualifying offer the Pistons declined on the open market.

The 23-year-old appeared in 60 games for Detroit, averaging 12.9 minutes a night. The Pistons’ free agent priority among their 2019/20 holdovers this offseason is expected to be starting big man Christian Wood.

Pistons Notes: Draft, Hayes, Kennard, Lee, More

November 19th, 2020 at 10:17am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons, who at one point held only the No. 7 pick in the Wednesday night’s draft, came away with three of the top 19 selections after a series of trades that saw them secure Killian Hayes (No. 7), Isaiah Stewart (No. 16), and Saddiq Bey (No. 19). For good measure, they also picked up the 38th overall pick in another deal and drafted Saben Lee.

The moves were a reflection of the aggressiveness that new general manager Troy Weaver hopes to bring to the job, as Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press writes.

“We’re going to attack the draft, we’re going to attack free agency, we’re going to attack everything,” Weaver said. “I said coming in, this was going to be a restoring of two interactions of the great Pistons teams. That was their mentality. They were aggressive, they were on the attack and we want to follow suit. That’s the mantra and we’ll hopefully continue to be aggressive. But we wanted to set the tone.”

Here’s more on the Pistons:

The Pistons view Killian Hayes as having the most upside of anyone in this draft class, according to James Edwards III of The Athletic. While it’s easy to make that claim after drafting him, it sounds like Hayes was aware that the team was high on him. “I was confident (that Detroit would pick me), but you never know until it happens,” he said after the draft, per Edwards.
Although the Pistons liked Luke Kennard, they felt as if his timeline didn’t match up with theirs, according to Edwards. The club viewed him as a productive role player on a team further down the road than Detroit is now.
The Pistons had a first-round grade on No. 38 pick Saben Lee, sources tell Edwards. Lee is reportedly signing a two-way deal.
The Pistons are receiving $1.5MM in cash from the Nets in the deal that will send Bruce Brown to Brooklyn, Edwards reports (via Twitter).

Pistons To Sign Saben Lee To Two-Way Contract

November 18th, 2020 at 11:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pistons will sign second-round pick Saben Lee to a two-way contract, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.

Detroit acquired the No. 38 overall pick in a draft-night trade and selected Lee, a junior guard out of Vanderbilt who averaged 18.6 PPG. 3.5 RPG and 4.2 APG last season. The Pistons’ front office had graded Lee as a first-round prospect, according to Edwards.

The Pistons didn’t have a second-rounder entering the draft but acquired the 38th pick, along with center Tony Bradley, from the Jazz for future considerations and cash.

Teams frequently make bargains with agents of second-round prospects to take their clients if they’ll agree to a two-way deal. However, Lee could compete for minutes on a rebuilding team.

Kennard To Clippers, Shamet To Nets In Three-Team Trade

November 18th, 2020 at 8:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers, Nets, and Pistons have agreed to a trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

Wojnarowski and Charania report that Brooklyn will acquire Landry Shamet in the three-team trade, with Luke Kennard going to the Clippers and the Pistons acquiring Rodney McGruder and the No. 19 overall pick in tonight’s draft (Twitter link). Detroit selected Villanova forward Saddiq Bey using that selection.

The Clippers are betting that Kennard, who averaged 15.8 PPG on .442/.399/.893 shooting in 28 games for Detroit last season, will be an upgrade on Shamet, who recorded 9.3 PPG on .404/.375/.855 shooting in 53 games.

The Clippers also discussed a bigger trade with the Celtics which included Shamet, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo tweets.

Kennard has a slightly less favorable contract than Shamet — he’s extension-eligible this fall and will be a restricted free agent in 2021 if he doesn’t sign a new deal. He’ll earn $5.3MM in 2020/21. Shamet, meanwhile, will earn $2MM in ’20/21 and $3.8MM in ’21/22 before potentially reaching restricted free agency in 2022.

Kennard is coming off an injury-marred season in which he played just 28 games due to tendinitis in both knees. However, he looked completely healthy during the team’s workouts in September.

Shamet provides another rotation guard for the Nets at a reasonable salary.

Bey is the third first-round pick by Detroit. It earlier selected Euro guard Killian Hayes at No. 7 and Washington center Isaiah Stewart at No. 16.

Draft-Night Rumors: Warriors, Pistons, Avdija, Baynes

November 18th, 2020 at 8:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Drafting James Wiseman won’t prevent the Warriors from looking to add another big man, according to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, who reports (via Twitter) that Golden State is eyeing at least four different bigs. The team has its $17MM+ trade exception and the $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception available to acquire veterans later this week.

Here are a few more NBA draft-night notes and rumors:

It sounds like Detroit’s long-reported interest in Patrick Williams was legit. The Pistons made an effort to trade up to No. 3 in order to leapfrog the Bulls for Williams, but the Hornets didn’t budge, sources tell Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link).
Deni Avdija has a small buyout to get out of his contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Avdija and the Wizards – who selected him at No. 9 – will pay that buyout. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer adds (via Twitter) that he’s surprised by Avdija slipping to ninth — the Bulls and Cavaliers both considered the Israeli forward at No. 4 and No. 5, per O’Connor.
NBA executives fully expect Aron Baynes to leave the Suns in free agency, opening the door for No. 10 pick Jalen Smith to fill Baynes’ role as a stretch big, tweets Kevin O’Connor. According to O’Connor, the Pelicans are a potential landing spot for Baynes.

Rockets To Trade Ariza, No. 16 Pick To Pistons For Future First-Rounder

November 18th, 2020 at 5:56pm CST by Luke Adams

UPDATE: This trade is being folded into a larger deal between the Rockets and Pistons, as described in a separate story.

The Rockets are trading Trevor Ariza and the No. 16 pick in tonight’s draft to the Pistons in exchange for a future first-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Houston will also receive the Lakers’ 2021 second-round pick from Detroit as part of the swap, sending $4.6MM to the Pistons, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).

Ariza and the No. 16 pick are part of the package Houston will receive from Portland in exchange for Robert Covington. That deal – and this new one – can’t be completed until after the Blazers make the No. 16 pick tonight. Portland will now be making that pick on behalf on the Pistons.

Ariza, 35, was a solid contributor for the Blazers last season, averaging 11.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG with a .491/.400/.872 shooting line in 21 games (33.4 MPG) after being acquired in a trade-deadline deal. He opted out of the NBA’s restart this summer in Orlando.

Ariza will make $12.8MM this season, so the Pistons will absorb that money using their cap room, reducing the space they’ll have available in free agency. However, it’s not clear yet whether the entire amount will be guaranteed. Portland will have to be guarantee about $7.1MM to make the deal with Houston work, notes Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (via Twitter). If it’s still only partially guaranteed, that would give the Pistons more flexibility.

It remains to be seen if Ariza will be part of Detroit’s plans in 2020/21 — this deal is presumably more about the No. 16 overall pick. New general manager Troy Weaver will now enter tonight’s draft armed with the seventh and 16th selections as he looks to add young talent to the roster.

As for the pick the Pistons are sending out, it will be heavily protected, says James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Edwards, it’ll be top-16 protected for the next four years, starting in 2021, then top-10 protected for two years and top-nine protected for one year. It would become a second-rounder if it still hasn’t changed hands at that point.

The Rockets, meanwhile, will pick up a pair of future draft picks while clearing enough salary from their books for the coming season to use their full mid-level exception, according to Wojnarowski. While there still may be a number of dominoes to fall in Houston, that MLE could give the Rockets enough spending power to sign a free agent who would help convince James Harden and Russell Westbrook the team can contend in the West.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), Houston will also create a trade exception in the deal. It’ll be worth Ariza’s guaranteed amount.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Suns’ Saric, Spurs’ Poeltl Among Players Receiving QOs

November 18th, 2020 at 2:21pm CST by Luke Adams

A series of players have received qualifying offers from their respective teams, making them restricted free agents this fall, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). Those players include Suns forward Dario Saric, Suns guard Jevon Carter, Grizzlies two-way guard John Konchar, Spurs big man Jakob Poeltl, and Spurs two-way players Quinndary Weatherspoon and Drew Eubanks.

Saric and Poeltl are the most notable names in the group and were also the most likely to receive qualifying offers, since Phoenix and San Antonio will want to retain the ability to match offer sheets on those players. Saric’s QO is worth about $5.1MM, while Poeltl’s is for approximately $4.6MM.

Saric, Poeltl, and the other players who received qualifying offers could accept those one-year contract offers, but will likely try to negotiate new, longer-term deals, either with their own teams or with rival suitors.

The Pistons won’t be extending a qualifying offer to two-way player Jordan Bone, so he’ll become an unrestricted free agent, according to James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Meanwhile, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster confirmed this week that the club will be making its annual qualifying offer to EuroLeague guard Nando De Colo, per Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link). Currently a member of Fenerbahce in Turkey, De Colo hasn’t played in the NBA since 2014, but would be a Raptors RFA if he wants to return, since Toronto has issued a QO each year since then.