Pistons: Hamidou Diallo may make Josh Jackson redundant

The Detroit Pistons revamped their entire roster via trades before this past season even began, but the moves didn’t stop when the 2020-21 campaign tipped off.

They also made a mid-season deal with the New York Knicks, sending Derrick Rose off in exchange for a second-round pick and Dennis Smith Jr., and they were active at the trade deadline as well. One of the deals they made sent Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk to the OKC Thunder in exchange for Hamidou Diallo, and Diallo might be a key part of the coming offseason for the Pistons.

The Detroit Pistons made a trade deadline acquisition of Hamidou Diallo this past season, and that may impact Josh Jackson’s future with the team.

The Pistons essentially traded for Diallo in order to utilize his restricted free agency status. They didn’t have any interest in keeping Mykhailiuk, but they acquired Diallo so that they would be able to sign him to a long-term deal.

Once Diallo arrived in Detroit, he showed some flashes of what led general manager Troy Weaver to trade for him. He has the length that Weaver covets, standing 6’5″ but possesses a 7-foot wingspan. His length and speed give him the tools to be a plus-defender, especially in conjunction with a roster full of athletes with great size attributes.

Diallo even turned in some hot shooting performances, shooting an uncharacteristic 39.0 percent from 3-point range. Don’t expect those 41 3-pointers with the Pistons to be particularly indicative, however, as he shot just 29.3 percent from long range in the 41 attempts he took with the Thunder last season before the trade. Still, the fact that he can at least get hot isn’t a bad thing.

With Diallo a virtual certainty to be re-signed in restricted free agency, the heat has been applied to wing incumbents on the Piston roster, and Josh Jackson is the primary incumbent in question.

He’ll be entering year two of a two-year, $9.8 million contract with a salary worth $5 million, and he may have value for a contender needing a backup wing who can play some tough and gritty defense. Considering Diallo’s presence and the fact that the Pistons just seem like a team eager to grab more picks in either this year or next year’s drafts, Jackson is a likely candidate to be moved via trade this offseason.

Redundancy is one thing the Pistons don’t need on their roster as they seek to swiftly rebuild from the doldrums of this past decade of ineptitude, and moving Jackson for some kind of assets makes a world of sense.

Trading Jackson would also be something of a vote of confidence, in a way. He might not fit where the Pistons are at now as a result of their direction and the expiring nature of his contract, but this time a year ago it was unfathomable that he would have any trade value on any contract at all. His hard work and dedication have done wonders to rehabilitate his image and reputation around the NBA and earning the opportunity to flourish with a contender is a big deal for him.

It’s not set in stone, but trading Josh Jackson makes sense for all parties and Hamidou Diallo makes that possible.