The Detroit Pistons are seemingly not done dealing with the NBA trade deadline hitting at 3 p.m. ET today. Detroit has already traded veteran point guard Monte Morris to the Denver Nuggets for Troy Brown Jr. and Shake Milton, and traded Kevin Knox to the Utah Jazz for Simone Fontecchio. Both deals also involved draft rights and/or compensation.
That leaves the Pistons over the 15-man roster limit so another shoe must drop — whether that is the release of a player not in the Pistons plans (example: Joe Harris), a minor trade (example: Killian Hayes) or a major trade.
One potentially seismic deal, at least on the relative scale of the current Pistons, would see Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for … something.
Hoops Hype reports that the Pistons were “actively engaged in trade talks” with the Philadelphia 76ers on Bojan Bogdanovic and with the New York Knicks on Alec Burks.
Talks with the Sixers reportedly stalled Wednesday evening, and Hoops Hype reports “it’s unclear if they’ll be revived in the morning.”
Yahoo Sport’s Jake Fischer makes things even more interesting, reporting that both Philly and New York were engaged on deals that would have brought both players into their respective folds. While Sixers might have walked away from any potential deal, Fischer reports that “all signs point to the Knicsk still being involved with the Pistons.”
The Pistons are known to be interested in reuniting with Sixers forward Tobias Harris, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Assuming the Pistons deal is centered on a Harris for Bogdanovic swap, the sticking point must be how much additional compensation Detroit would receive. Bogdanovic has a $19 million option next year that is only guaranteed at $2 million. This makes him an attractive piece for Philly, which could use both his shooting ability for the stretch run and next season, or his contract in a deal for a future star either as a trade chip or as someone they can walk away from if they need to open up the cap space.
Detroit has long held out for some assemblage of a good first-round pick and either a good player or additional draft assets.
The Pistons would need to send multiple players to Philly to match Harris’s nearly $40 million salary. Perhaps Shake Milton, who spent five seasons with the Sixers, who the Pistons received in the Monte Morris deal, could be rerouted to Philly as part of a byzantine multi-player package.
The easiest form would be a simple swap of Harris and a minimum salary player for Bogdanovic and Joe Harris. Plus whatever draft compensation would head the Pistons way, but I imagine it would be relatively light.
Burks, meanwhile, continues to be associated with the Knicks, and they could clearly use some bench scoring in the back court after losing Immanuel Quickley in the OG Anunoby deal. The former Knick scored 25 points in Detroit’s win against the Sacramento Kings. Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was held out of the Kings game with calf soreness.
In that same Hoops Hype report, it was also stated Killian Hayes could still be destined for the Memphis Grizzlies, with the primary hold up what kind of draft compensation Memphis would send Detroit in return.
As of publication, there is just over five hours until the NBA trade deadline. It should be interesting.