Last offseason, the Detroit Pistons brought much of their 2019-20 roster back for an in-market bubble. That group consisted of every player who would qualify as being a part of their young core — Luke Kennard, Sekou Doumbouya, Bruce Brown and Svi Mykhailiuk being chief among them — as well as Justin Patton, who became Troy Weaver’s first signing earlier that summer.
Five months later, only Doumbouya remains on the 15-man roster. Kennard was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, and Bruce Brown to the Brooklyn Nets last November. Mykhailiuk was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this month. Both two-way players, Jordan Bone and Louis King, failed to make the cut.
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It’s become obvious that Weaver isn’t shy about remaking the roster. He has a specific vision for his Pistons: he likes long-armed, athletic players with potential high ceilings to reach. He also wasted no time finding a trade for Derrick Rose in February, and reached a buyout with Blake Griffin this month rather than hold onto him through the trade deadline.
It puts Doumbouya, the 20-year-old forward with a longer developmental curve in just his second season, into an interesting position as the 3 p.m. Thursday trade deadline approaches. He’s the only remaining player from last year’s roster, and Weaver has already stated that no player on the roster is untouchable (though Jerami Grant, who’s in the midst of a breakout season, appears to be the closest non-rookie to that coveted status).
Mykhailiuk didn’t appear to be the most likely player on the roster to be traded when Weaver dealt him, along with a future second-round pick, to the Thunder for Hamidou Diallo on March 12. Diallo is a player that Weaver, a former Thunder assistant GM, is deeply familiar with. Mykhailiuk was in a season-long shooting slump at the time of the trade.
If there’s a player Weaver likes, and a deal that can be made to acquire them, he’s willing to be aggressive to get it done. And while Doumbouya, the 15th pick of the 2019 draft, was expected to be a project with the Pistons drafted him, he also wasn’t a Weaver pick.
[ From Jan.: How Doumbouya is ‘taking steps’ even if he isn’t playing much ]
“I learned never say never, but there’s some guys that are here to stay. We’ll see,” Weaver said on March 9.
Doumbouya has not made a significant leap this season while on the outer fringes of Dwane Casey’s rotation. Doumbouya appeared to be a healthy scratch during Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, but Casey said on Tuesday that Doumbouya had a thumb injury.
Doumbouya entered the season with some buzz from the offseason. The coaching staff praised his conditioning improvement and performance during the in-market bubble. He also looked sharp during preseason, with 23 points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal on 8-of-11 overall shooting during a loss to the New York Knicks.
But he hasn’t had a singular great performance in the regular season. He’s only shooting 34.4% overall and 25% from 3, but he hasn’t exactly struggled. The plan for last season was for Doumbouya to play mostly with the Grand Rapids Drive. Injuries cleared the way for him to finish the season with the Pistons. Despite his strong play in the bubble and during preseason, Casey has maintained that Doumbouya could spend time with the Motor City Cruise when the incoming G League team arrives on Wayne State’s campus next season.
The Pistons view the Cruise as a substantial part of their player development program. And even though Doumbouya is in his second season, he’s still the fourth-youngest player on the roster and younger than rookies Saddiq Bey and Saben Lee.
Casey envisions Doumbouya becoming a very useful player for the Pistons — one who excels at running the floor, cutting, knocking down occasional 3-pointers and reliably defending forwards and some centers, he said on Tuesday. Standing 6 feet 8 with a 6-11 wingspan, Doumbouya has the size and strength to fit in physically with the rest of the roster.
“His gift is when he’s down and ready to defend, he’s strong as an ox,” Casey said. “When you bump into Sekou you know you’ve hit something. That’s his gift and that’s going to be his number one strength, is being able to defend the 3s, the 4s and some 5s.”
The biggest thing going in Doumbouya’s favor could be his contract situation. His rookie deal won’t end until 2023, and he’s not eligible for an extension in 2022. A common theme in many of Weaver’s moves is an unwillingness to commit money to players from the previous regime. Both Brown and Mykhailiuk will enter restricted free agency this summer, while Kennard was due to enter restricted free agency before he was traded and signed an extension with the Clippers.
The opportunity cost for the Pistons is relatively low should they wish to give Doumbouya an additional 19 months before making a decision on his future. In the meantime, he has support from Casey and his teammates to help him become the best version of himself.
“Just gotta stay resilient,” Jerami Grant said of his advice to Doumbouya. “Everything doesn’t always go the way you plan it to at the beginning, but just telling him, talking to him, telling him to focus on himself, getting better every single day, little by little every day. When he does that, you have nothing to worry about once you know you’ve done everything you can, things will work out the way they should.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here’s how you can gain access to our most exclusive Pistons content. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.