NBA Trade Rumors: 5 Teams That Should Trade For Al Horford

5. Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons have been a pleasant surprise in the East this year, but much like the rest of the conference, haven’t been quite good enough to separate themselves from the crowd.

A record of 25-23 leaves Detroit the proud owners of the eighth seed, but five teams are within four games of that spot. The other side of that is that Detroit is just two games back of the three-seeded Bulls.

All-Star center Andre Drummond has developed into one of the league’s premier two-way centers, but his raw offensive skill set and horrendous free throw shooting leaves him prone to single-digit scoring duds, and of course, makes him a late-game liability.

Pairing Drummond with Horford, though, could be highly beneficial for the Pistons, and the team may be interested in doing so:

Horford, who is averaging 15.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this year, has solidified himself as a top-tier stretch-forward. This season, he has attempted 139 shots from between 15 and 19 feet, and has converted an impressive 51.1 percent of them.

The Pistons have attempted to improve their floor spacing by adding Ersan Ilyasova, but the Turkish forward isn’t much of a defender, and as a streaky shooter, is hardly the consistent scorer you’d want in your starting lineup.

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Horford is known to be a very consistent offensive player; he’s scored at least 10 points in all but five games this year. His versatility would make him an effective partner for Andre Drummond, and he would help shore up the defensive line too.

The Pistons could send Marcus Morris and Brandon Jennings to Atlanta in a deal for Horford. Morris is having somewhat of a breakout year, averaging 13.7 points per game, though his outside shooting has dropped off a bit, down to 30.4 percent. Still, he too offers versatility as a combo forward, and at 26 years old, is considerably younger than Horford, who will turn 30 in June.

Jennings has had his name float around in trade rumors since the Pistons acquired fellow point guard Reggie Jackson, who is putting together an All-Star caliber campaign this year (19.1 points, 6.4 assists per game). Jennings has recently returned to the lineup after suffering an Achilles injury last season, but was starting to look like a top-tier guard before he went down.

If Atlanta is serious about trading Jeff Teague, Jennings could hold down the fort and keep Atlanta competitive this year. He’s just 26 as well, but if the Hawks want to give Dennis Schroder the full-time job, the team could just let Jennings walk at the end of the season, when his contract is set to expire.

It seems like a win-win here.

Next: No. 4