NBA trade grades season starts early this year after the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks swap Derrick Rose for Dennis Smith Jr., as well as the Charlotte Hornets’ 2021 second-round pick. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first with full reported details.
Derrick Rose had sat out the last few games for the Pistons and on Saturday night the news came out that he and the organization had decided a trade was in their mutual best interests. Last season there was trade buzz surrounding Rose, but nothing ever developed. This season, however, as he has an expiring team-friendly contract, time was becoming essential.
NBA trade grades for the Derrick Rose, Dennis Smith Jr. trade
As for Dennis Smith Jr., he’s struggled greatly this season for the Knicks. So much so that he asked for a G League assignment to get minutes and reps. With the Pistons, he may not need such an assignment. It’s a team that is tanking the right way, and he’ll get the opportunity to figure things out.
He also gets the benefit of working with an organization that has shown a flair for reclamation projects. A year ago the Pistons were the beneficiaries of Christian Wood’s breakout campaign, and this season Josh Jackson has salvaged his own career with a great start. Dennis Smith Jr. could be just the next wayward player that head coach Dwane Casey gets to set back on the right path.
The Knicks are a team that was on an upward trajectory with a youth movement well underway, and Rose’s injection into the lineup could impact them in a number of different directions.
The deal is as follows:
We’ll take a look at this deal from the perspective of both teams, starting with the Detroit Pistons.
Grading this deal for the Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons were nearing an important deadline for Derrick Rose. They had gotten him for a favorable price in the 2019 offseason, signing him to a two-year, $15 million contract, and the clock was running.
He’s a player that is always in demand thanks to his MVP pedigree and the fact that he’s beloved in just about every NBA locker room, and his presence on this Pistons team wasn’t consistent with the trajectory of their rebuild. And thanks to a rejuvenating season last year, his play boosted his trade value as well.
Derrick Rose also tends to be injury-prone, and every game that he played involved a risk-reward balancing act. You can play him and he can play well and boost his value further, or he can play poorly and hinder it, or he can sprain an ankle or other such injury and completely scuttle it.
As a result, getting him on the move sooner than later was imperative, and the Detroit Pistons knew it. This deal with the Knicks for Dennis Smith Jr. and undetermined draft assets is a suitable deal. Smith doesn’t fit the description of a good NBA player currently, having played just three games this season, but the Pistons can afford to take a cheap flyer on him.
Like Rose, Smith’s contract expires at the end of this year, but he can probably be re-signed for a bargain if he plays his way back into the mix for them. Or, maybe he doesn’t, and they lose him for nothing. The Hornets pick that they receive for Rose isn’t going anywhere, and it’s the clear value element of this for the Pistons.
All in all, getting something for Rose is a win, and the Detroit Pistons accomplished just that.
Grade: B+
Grading this deal for the New York Knicks
This trade is a clear win for the Detroit Pistons, but it’s less obvious what exactly it does for the New York Knicks. It reunites Derrick Rose with Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, whom he has plenty of experience with from their time with the Chicago Bulls. In Thibodeau’s eyes, it may enhance the team’s ability to win now, but Rose hasn’t been good this year and it’s likely that the peak of his resurgence is well behind him.
Assuming Rose plays his customary 20-26 minutes per game, that’s going to strip away responsibility from rookie Immanuel Quickley, who is coming into his own. It certainly seemed all along like the Knicks were going to find a way to short-circuit their own rebuild, and in some small way, this trade for Derrick Rose does just that.
The Knicks are trading for Derrick Rose in the hopes that he can make them better, but he’s just not that guy anymore. He’s not going to carry them, even off the bench, and he won’t win them games.
The price of Dennis Smith Jr. and a (likely) second-round pick won’t break the bank for them, but Rose will likely end up providing subtraction by addition. Taking the ball out of Quickley’s hands seems nothing short of counterproductive for the New York Knicks.