The Detroit Pistons have leapt forward into a brave new chapter in their history thanks to a momentous NBA draft night. Let’s grade their four picks.
The Detroit Pistons flipped the script on Wednesday night in the NBA draft. They drafted a player in Killian Hayes who they hope can be a star and franchise cornerstone, and they trade away a fan favorite in Luke Kennard.
After years of the Pistons having to sit on their hands as a result of salary cap mismanagement and poor valuation of player contracts, they had the liberty to wheel and deal, and new general manager Troy Weaver put on a show in that regard. Naturally, it’s going to be years before we get the full picture of this draft, but if nothing else it was a fun display of expert-level wheeling and dealing.
By the time the dust settled, the Pistons had acquired the 16th overall pick from the Houston Rockets along with Trevor Ariza, traded Luke Kennard to the LA Clippers in exchange for the 19th pick, and they acquired Tony Bradley and the 38th pick from the Utah Jazz.
It was frantic and crazy, and something that we haven’t seen the Detroit Pistons do basically ever. We might not know much about this team just yet, but Weaver declared that any player on the roster is up for grabs as he continues to build the team in his own image.
One day after the draft, let’s grade these picks.