Detroit Pistons general manager Troy Weaver continued to rearrange his roster Friday night, bringing home a Michigan native in the process.
Hours after picking up a pair of future second-round picks, Weaver shipped a second-rounder to the Washington Wizards for point guard Monte Morris, the Free Press has confirmed from a league source.
Morris, 28, will add an all-around veteran presence to a poster that currently has four skilled ball-handlers on rookie contracts in Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Killian Hayes and Marcus Sasser.
OMARI SANKOFA II: Joe Harris trade signals Pistons are punting on making big swing in free agency
SUMMER ROSTER: Pistons’ NBA summer league roster highlighted by recent top draft picks
With the Wizards last season, Morris averaged 10.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 27.3 minutes a game. Morris also shot 48% from the field and hit 38.2% on 3-pointers — that was down from 39.5% in 2021-22 with the Denver Nuggets, who traded him to Washington on July 6, 2022. He’s a career 39.2% 3-point shooter and will give the Pistons additional floor spacing.
The deal to Detroit is a dream come true for Morris, who talked of going to Michigan State and then suiting up for the Pistons while he was at Flint Beecher. The guard won the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award as a senior in 2013.
“Growing up as a kid, I was a Michigan State and Detroit Pistons fan,” Morris told the Free Press before the 2017 NBA draft. “If I get a chance to put on that red, white and blue, it would be good in my hometown.”
Instead, after attending Iowa State, Morris landed with the Nuggets, who selected the Grand Rapids native in 2017’s second round (No. 51 overall).
It was the Pistons’ third trade of the day. Less than an hour before acquiring Morris, they received $2.1 million from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for the draft rights for Balsa Koprivica, according to league sources. Koprovica, the 57th pick of the 2021 draft, was previously acquired by the Pistons in a deal that sent Mason Plumlee to the Charlotte Hornets.
And the Pistons kicked off their transaction-filled day by sending $110,000 to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for sharpshooter Joe Harris and two future second-round picks. Harris, 31, is on an expiring contract worth $19.9 million.
Morris is on an expiring contract and due $9.8 million for the 2023-24 season. The deal creates an $8.8 million trade exception for the Wizards and appears to use up most of the Pistons’ remaining cap room this offseason. They entered the first day of NBA free agency with approximately $30 million to spend, but used two-thirds of that in taking Harris’ deal, which also expires after the upcoming season.