Detroit Pistons receive: Devin Booker<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Some will preach patience<\/a> 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<\/a> in May that, “Our urgency is not going to stop.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Booker, who hails from Grand Rapids, Mich., is precisely the kind of shot-maker and creator who would prevent defenses from overloading on Cunningham\u2014or 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).<\/p>\n With Booker and Cunningham leading the offense, and the key components of Detroit’s top-10 defense<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n