With less than 12 hours to go until the trade deadline, the Detroit Pistons and Sacramento Kings were the first teams to pull the trigger on a deal. The Pistons agreed to send guard Delon Wright to the Sacramento for Cory Joseph and two second-round picks. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the deal.
Kings are sending a 2021 via second-round pick via Lakers and their own 2024 second-rounder to Pistons in the deal, source tells ESPN. https://t.co/yXGXXwbsL6
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021
Asset Accumulation continues for the Detroit Pistons
Since becoming the General Manager of the Detroit Pistons, Troy Weaver has made every step a win. At the beginning of the season, Weaver proclaimed the Pistons are repositioning itself for future success. He signed many handy free-agent deals, ripped the band-aid off the Blake Griffin contract, and now has acquired two second-round picks for Wright. Those picks are in 2021 via the Los Angeles Lakers and 2024 via Sacramento.
Additionally, Weaver also saved the Pistons money next season. Wright is guaranteed to receive $17.5 million over the next two seasons while Joseph will receive $12.6-million this year and is guaranteed for just $2.4 million next season. It’s a small saving of roughly $2.5 million, a nice carrot to go along with the two second-round picks.
This was a good deal by Weaver and the Pistons franchise with the club trending in the right direction.
Grade: B
Sacramento Kings make move on the margins
For the Sacramento Kings, this move follows their goal of making the playoffs this season. Wright is under contract for the next two seasons and provides a slight upgrade over Joseph as a back-up guard. ESPN’s Bobby Marks explains:
A big goal for Sacramento this offseason was to improve their depth.
They get a jump start with the addition of Delon Wright.
They were projected to be over the cap and with only the $9.5M ML and $3.7M biannual.
They also create a $3.6M trade exception with the trade.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) March 25, 2021
However, this move doesn’t make much sense. Sacramento is tied for 12th in the Western Conference with a record of 19-25 and has the 14th hardest remaining schedule. One thing that does work in their favor is the other chasing teams for that coveted 10th spot (play-in game) all have harder records so I guess it makes some sense to go for it.
It’s understandable the Kings want to make the playoffs but they chose the wrong year to aim for it given how deep the 2021 draft is.
Grade: C+</h3
Main Image: Embed from Getty Images
