{"id":542786,"date":"2026-01-17T13:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542786\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:45:35","slug":"pistons-go-all-in-on-untouchable-signature-skill-with-jaren-jackson-jr-rumor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542786\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons go all-in on untouchable signature skill with Jaren Jackson Jr. rumor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Pistons already have one of the best defenses in the NBA, but could lean into that strength by making a surprising trade for Jaren Jackson Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Scotto of\u00a0HoopsHype<\/a>\u00a0reported that the Pistons were one\u00a0of \u201dvarious\u00a0teams\u201d around the league who were inquiring about the Grizzlies\u2019 All-Defensive big.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson Jr.\u00a0somewhat fits\u00a0the prototype of what the Pistons could use as a power forward who can shoot and defend the rim. Pairing him with Jalen Duren and\/or Isaiah Stewart would give the Pistons an even more formidable interior defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pistons would be going all-in on their biggest strength, but it would be a move that would lock them into\u00a0some\u00a0serious financial\u00a0commitment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trading for Jaren Jackson Jr. would set the Pistons\u2019 roster for the\u00a0foreseeable\u00a0future\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s\u00a0start with the obvious, which is the Grizzlies have not made JJJ available and just because the Pistons are sniffing around\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean they have serious interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would go against everything Trajan Langdon has talked about so far<\/a> and cost the Pistons\u00a0all of\u00a0their flexibility in terms of trade assets and cap space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Detroit would surely have to send at least one of their talented young\u00a0core\u00a0along with copious draft assets and the expiring contract of Tobias Harris, so we are talking multiple rotation players for one guy, which would\u00a0immediately\u00a0eat into the\u00a0Pistons\u2019 depth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then there is a financial cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JJJ\u2019s $205 million contract extension kicks in next year, so along with a possible max or near max deal for Jalen Duren<\/a>, the Pistons could have upwards of $400 million wrapped up in two guys.\u00a0Add in\u00a0Ausar Thompson\u2019s extension (assuming he\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0in the trade), and you suddenly have a TON of money invested in four players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That would be your team, at least for 3-4 seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That may not be\u00a0a bad thing, as\u00a0they\u2019d\u00a0be getting\u00a0a big chunk\u00a0of JJJ\u2019s prime for that cost, as\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0only 26 years old.\u00a0The\u00a0Pistons are also well equipped to cover JJJ\u2019s biggest flaw (rebounding) with Duren,\u00a0Stewart\u00a0and Thompson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

JJJ would be a costly trade, but one that\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a rental and could potentially make the Pistons the best team in the Eastern Conference for the\u00a0foreseeable\u00a0future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0flip side\u00a0of that is that if it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0work out for whatever reason, the Pistons are stuck with an expensive team that is not good enough to win a title, which is one of\u00a0the\u00a0worst positions to be in the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trajan Langdon has been patient so\u00a0far,\u00a0and a move like this would be an abrupt departure from that ethos, and one that could backfire spectacularly if it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0work out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll\u00a0know in a few weeks if there is any fire behind this smoke, but it would be a shocking move for the Pistons to go all-in at this stage of their progression from a 14-win team to one that is leading the East.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Pistons already have one of the best defenses in the NBA, but could lean into that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-542786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115910745768855011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}