In the weeks leading up to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, several Pistons players were mentioned in trade discussions. Just more than an hour before the 3 p.m. deadline, the Pistons made a move.
The Pistons are trading forwards Saddiq Bey and Kevin Knox II to the Golden State Warriors for center James Wiseman, a league source confirmed to The Detroit News. ESPN was first to report the trade news.
Bey will end up with the Hawks, who are sending five second-round picks to Golden State, according to TNT insider Chris Haynes. Golden State is expected to trade Knox to the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Bey, 23, was a first-round pick (19th overall) by the Pistons in 2020, and was selected to the All-Rookie first team after posting 12.2 points and 4.5 rebounds and shooting 38% on 3-pointers. Bey started all 82 games last season, which was the best of his career, with 16.1 points and 5.4 rebounds.
During this season, Bey’s role diminished after the Pistons got Bojan Bogdanovic, who is having the best season of his career, averaging 21.3 points and 3.6 rebounds and is shooting 42% on 3-pointers. The Pistons signed Bogdanovic to a two-year extension, which seemingly made Bey a trade option.
Bey has started 30 of the 52 games he’s played and is logging 28.8 minutes, about four fewer than he averaged last season.
Knox, 23, was signed last offseason to a two-year contract after starting his career with the Knicks, who selected him with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 draft. He played in 42 games this season and averaged 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 37% on 3-pointers. Knox carved out a solid role in the Pistons’ second unit during November and December, but fell out of the rotation shortly after the new year began.
Wiseman, a 7-foot center, was a former No. 2 overall pick by the Warriors in that 2020 draft. His career has been beset with injuries, but he posted 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds as a rookie, and he provides the Pistons another option in the frontcourt, along with rookie Jalen Duren, Marvin Bagley III, Nerlens Noel.
The Pistons surprisingly ended the trade deadline by breaking up part of their young core with the departure of Bey, but they kept their veteran scorers, Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, who had drawn interest from several teams ahead of the deadline.
mcurtis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @MikeACurtis2