Detroit Pistons: 3 midseason takeaways in 2018-19

3. The Pistons won the Blake Griffin trade

After the trade was announced last year, it looked like the Pistons were giving up a ton for a guy that had struggled to stay healthy for the last few years. Since the season started, Griffin has shown the team they made the right call when they added him. He’s averaging 25.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, and has also been very efficient with a slash line of .478/.363/.757.

With a career-high usage percentage of 29.7 percent, he’s been everything Detroit hoped for. He has been the hub their offense revolves around, and he is the piece of their offense that works when all other pieces don’t.

The Pistons had to give up Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjonovic, a first round pick and a second round pick while really only receiving Griffin, but it was all worth it. Harris has played well in L.A., but Griffin is on a different level.

After this season, the Pistons will have Griffin for at least two more seasons with a possible third if he picks up his player option for the 2021-22 season. The team has a small window to build around him, but can do so with confidence. Another motivating factor would be wanting to take some of the workload off of Griffin. He has struggled to stay healthy, and a workload like this could wear him out.