Detroit Pistons receive: Devin Booker
Phoenix Suns receive: Ron Holland II, Jaden Ivey, Tobias Harris, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2031 first-round pick
General consensus suggests the Pistons need a legitimate co-star for Cade Cunningham if they want to take the next step. Opinions are split on where and when they should go about finding one.
Some will preach patience and wonder whether this call could be answered in-house, with someone like Ivey, Holland, Ausar Thompson or Jalen Duren making that kind of jump. Others will cite Cunningham’s readiness as a reason to aggressively pursue this player from outside the organization. Pistons governor Tom Gores might be in the latter camp, having stressed back in May that, “Our urgency is not going to stop.”
Detroit must be careful that recklessness doesn’t get confused for urgency, but this deal wouldn’t do that. Booker has all of the bona fides needed to handle second-star (or 1A-1B) duties alongside Cunningham.
Booker, who hails from Grand Rapids, Mich., is precisely the kind of shot-maker and creator who would prevent defenses from overloading on Cunningham—or punish those that did. Over the past two seasons, Booker has been a nightly source of 26.3 points and 7.0 assists, and that scoring output actually lags behind his career postseason output (28).
With Booker and Cunningham leading the offense, and the key components of Detroit’s top-10 defense still in place, the Pistons could power their way into the East’s elite tier already this season. And since Booker only turns 29 in October, Detroit might have a contending combo on hand for the next half-decade.
A Booker blockbuster would fly in the face of everything coming out of Phoenix, but it might be an overdue acceptance of fate. The Suns are seemingly going nowhere fast, and that could be painfully obvious by the time Booker becomes trade-eligible in mid-January.
Maybe by then, both sides will have figured out how incredibly difficult it’ll be to win big together and could be ready for a split. If that happens, Phoenix would have to appreciate the many incoming assets here. The picks are the top prizes, but Ivey looked like a near-star before having his campaign cut short by broken left fibula, and Holland might be a reliable three-ball away from having a major two-way impact. Harris, finally, is a wholly serviceable vet whom the Suns could probably flip for another asset or two ahead of the deadline.