All signs are pointing to the Detroit Pistons not making a splashy move at the trade deadline, but if they are going to pursue one of the top targets, the only one that makes\u00a0sense\u00a0is Michael Porter Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pistons have consistently been attached to MPJ in\u00a0speculation,\u00a0but that has ratcheted\u00a0up of\u00a0late, as insider Jake Fischer reported<\/a> that the Pistons have indeed had internal discussions about trading for the Nets\u2019 sharpshooter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those talks\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0progressed outside of the building yet, but the Pistons are at least\u00a0kicking around\u00a0the idea of MPJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019ve\u00a0discussed him quite a lot, so\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not going to beat a dead horse here, but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0an elite, volume 3-point shooter whose contract\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0extend past next\u00a0season,\u00a0and\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0be\u00a0relatively inexpensive\u00a0to\u00a0acquire\u00a0compared to some of the other top options.\u00a0<\/p>\n And when you look at those options, MPJ is the only one that makes any sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most of the top trade targets will not interest the Detroit Pistons\u00a0<\/p>\n Fischer laid out the top names that could be moved, starting with Trey Murphy III, another guy who makes a lot of sense for the Pistons. But the Pelicans\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0showing any interest in trading him, and why would they? They\u00a0actually have\u00a0a nice little foundation now that Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears have\u00a0popped,\u00a0and TMIII is young enough to be part of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m\u00a0ruling him out, though that\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0stopped the dreamers from\u00a0coming up with\u00a0wildly ambitious trade ideas.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The other players Fischer mentioned are Domantas Sabonis DeMar DeRozan, Nikola\u00a0Vucevic\u00a0and James Harden, all of whom you can safely rule out in Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n None of them are\u00a0fits\u00a0and Detroit\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0about to blow their trade assets on an old rental, so of the top reported targets, MPJ is clearly the best fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Pistons have the financial flexibility and trade assets to get a deal done, so it will really come down to whether Trajan Langdon feels MPJ moves the needle enough to sacrifice\u00a0any of that for\u00a0relatively short-term\u00a0gains.\u00a0<\/p>\n