The day of the NBA’s trade deadline arrived when the clock struck midnight on Thursday. Not long afterward, the Detroit Pistons made the first move of the day.
Delon Wright has been traded to the Sacramento Kings for Cory Joseph, a 2021 second-round pick and a 2024 second-round pick, a league source confirmed to the Free Press.
Wright, a 28-year old combo guard, had been the Pistons’ starting point guard since Killian Hayes went down with a hip injury on Jan. 4.
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In 35 games, Wright averages 10.5 points, 5.1 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals. He has done so while averaging a career-high 29.3 minutes per game. He wanted to come to Detroit to play for Dwane Casey, his former coach with the Toronto Raptors, and was in the midst of one of his better NBA seasons.
Wright will become an unrestricted free agent in 2022 and is making $9 million this season and owed $8,526,316 next season.
The trade will allow the Pistons to restock some of the second-round picks they’ve lost in recent trades. They now have three second-round picks in the 2021 Draft, along with Toronto’s and Charlotte’s. They will also acquire a veteran point guard in Joseph, who appeared in 43 games and averaged 21.5 minutes per off of the bench for Sacramento this season.
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Joseph, 29, is on the books $12,600,000 this season and next season, but he’s only partially guaranteed for $2.4 million next season.
The trade clears up a logjam at point guard for the Pistons. With three young players in Killian Hayes, Dennis Smith Jr. and Saben Lee all vying for minutes, and the Pistons prioritizing the development of their young players down the stretch, Wright was the odd man out.
It’s the third trade of the season for Troy Weaver, after sending Svi Mykhailiuk and a second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Hamidou Diallo earlier this month, and Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks for Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round pick in Febraury.
The Pistons acquired Wright in a three-way trade with the Dallas Mavericks and Thunder in November.
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.