DETROIT — The East-leading Detroit Pistons passed on taking a big swing at the trade deadline, opting to lean on their youth and chemistry with the playoffs a little over two months away.
They’re challenging conventional wisdom of surrounding star Cade Cunningham with another high-level scorer, instead sending out guard Jaden Ivey to Chicago for Kevin Huerter in a deal on Wednesday.
They prefer to lean in on their second-ranked defense, trailing defending champion Oklahoma City, rather than loading up on offense, to see what will happen in the playoffs.
“I think there’s different ways to skin a cat,” Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said Friday afternoon. “I think we’ve really been doing it different, doing it on the defensive end, really getting after it. And I think we’ll continue to do it.”
Huerter is a career 37 percent 3-point shooter, although he’s shooting 31 percent this year. A big value for him is his expiring $17.9 million contract the Pistons can use in free agency this summer, with the franchise being in the bottom third in overall salary. Ivey, the fifth pick in the 2022 draft, will be a restricted free agent this summer and never fully regained the form he had before a fibula injury last New Year’s Day.
A few contenders made moves to tighten up roster holes with the belief the conference is available for the taking. The Boston Celtics acquired Nikola Vucevic in a deal for Anfernee Simons, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for all-star James Harden and the New York Knicks acquired backup guard Jose Alvarado.
Langdon didn’t want to take a shot at a win-now move that compromised the team’s future outlook. Cunningham is signed to a long-term extension while All-Star center Jalen Duren is the next item for business this summer, along with Ausar Thompson being extension eligible.
Even with the Pistons having a surprise season to date, on track to eclipse last season’s 44-win mark this month, Langdon has stated and reiterated he didn’t want to “skip steps”.
“That wasn’t available to us,” Langdon said. “We still talk about it and think in that way, to not skip steps. Nothing came up that would’ve made us do that.”
People around the league speculated the Pistons would make a run at Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr or New Orleans swingman Trey Murphy, the latter of whom Langdon was familiar with dating back to his time as a Pelicans executive.
Langdon admitted bigger deals were discussed but didn’t come to fruition.
“There were some things, whether it was the other team pulling out or us just saying, now’s not the right time for that,” Langdon said. “There were some things that I wouldn’t say, got close, that we thought about but didn’t execute.”
Langdon and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff appeared to be in lockstep on not letting this season create unrealistic expectations, but Langdon also wants to see this group handle the pressure of the playoffs before making long-term decisions.
“What are we going to do in the postseason? What’s our rotation, who are the guys that step up in crunch time,” Langdon said. “The hope is we give ourselves a chance to play meaningful basketball in the postseason and that’ll allow us to assess what this team is and who we are going forward.”