Why the Pistons make this move: Detroit still hasn’t figured out the best option for a secondary ballhandler next to Cade Cunningham. Jaden Ivey doesn’t look like he’s 100 percent following his broken leg last year. Even if the team is still invested in him long-term, he probably can’t be trusted at this stage in his recovery for a big playoff series. Additionally, the Caris LeVert signing hasn’t gone smoothly. He’s averaging just eight points per game in 20 minutes per night, with a true-shooting percentage that is 5 percent below league average. The offense tends to be worse when he’s on the court, both with and without Cunningham. And while two-way guard Daniss Jenkins has shown great flashes, the Pistons shouldn’t feel great about him as an option, either.
Detroit also has a $14.1 million trade exception from a sign-and-trade it executed last summer for Dennis Schröder, giving it some options to get a player who could help. The Pistons can feel at ease using the entirety of that exception, as they’re about $18 million away from the luxury-tax line. President of basketball operations Trajan Langdon also has his full complement of first-round picks available to trade for the first time since he’s been in charge, as well as a large cache of second-round picks.
That’s where White would come in. An unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, White could become a serious option for the Pistons both in the short- and long-term. Last year, the team acquired Schröder late in the year to be that secondary ballhandler, and he thrived. White would bring many of the same traits as an explosive scorer who can get paint touches and is also very comfortable firing from 3. He’d also bring an added shooting dimension for a Pistons team that is 27th in 3-point attempt rate this season and could use another floor-spacer next to their superstar guard.
One point that could be made against this acquisition would be that White has dealt with three separate calf injuries this season that have brought him in and out of the lineup. But if White can get right, he represents the best cost-efficient scoring guard option on the market for a team that holds the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. And if he played well, White could give Detroit insurance if it’s not comfortable paying Ivey in restricted free agency.
Why the Bulls make this move: The feeling around the NBA is that trying to predict what the Bulls will do at the deadline is a fool’s errand. The organization has been unpredictable under president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas. However, it would make sense for Chicago to cash in on a few of its unrestricted free agents this summer to bring in draft capital. The team is 18-20 and isn’t going anywhere this year. A traditional selloff of assets would better position the organization long-term to build around Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis.
In this deal, they’d get a pick that will likely be slated in the ballpark of No. 25 to 27, along with a couple of second-rounders. The Bulls would lose White’s Bird rights this summer by making this move, but as a team that is projected to have a large amount of cap space, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to either keep White’s $24.5 million cap hold on the books or simply sign him back via free agency.
Given that White is essentially a two- to four-month rental and his calf injuries, I’m not sure the Bulls should expect much better in return than a late first-round pick.
I welcome comments, but please no comments without supporting reasoning (e.g. "Hawks pass". Don't be a hater. If you’re going to say something, make it meaningful or don't bother)