Although the playoffs were disappointing, the turn around this Pistons' team had was amazing. A good young core, a new and winning coach, and a superstar, officially, in Cade Cunningham. After making the playoffs, the one thing this team really needs to be a championship caliber team is a running mate for Cade. Here are three ways that the Pistons should handle the offseason in order to bounce back and even better next year(in order from most realistic to least):
1: Package Ivey, maybe other young players and picks for Devin Booker. The Michigan kid gets to come home, and the Suns were just a hot mess this season. And honestly, I don't think KD will be the one getting traded because he could have gone to the Warriors or someone else at the trade deadline, but we all know how he is: Being a traitor, trying to form super teams yet they never work when he is the main guy, and then how he makes burner accounts on twitter when people criticize him(among other stuff). Now that he's getting towards the end of his career, plus he's always worried about how other people think about him, I think he'll just want to stay put in Phoenix to try to change the narrative of him being a traitor(which will never go away regardless), and hope that the Suns figure things out. Which, they honestly could but I have my doubts. All in all, a package around Ivey to get Booker the hell out of that shit show in Phoenix. Also, I don't specify any other players on the Pistons that could be a part of this deal since in an ideal world, they just give up Ivey and other picks for Booker, but you have to give up something to get something.
Run it back. Try to resign all the vets in Schroder, THJ, and Beasley. And hopefully, Ivey is all good and healthy and he returns in full form and continues to blossom into that elite second option that he was starting to play like before he went down with the broken leg.
Package Tobias Harris, Ron Holland,(possibly Malik Beasley in sign and trade) and picks for Franz Wagner. I like this trade a lot for the Pistons, but IK the Magic probably would disagree with me. The reason I don't say give up Ivey for Wagner is because although Wagner is currently the slightly better and more valuable player, it would not be worth it to lose out on Ivey since I don't think we've seen the best version of him yet along with the fact that the Pistons would need to give up other assets. Anyways, there's a chance that the Magic will make hasty decisions in order to escape midness, as Paolo is already playing like a top 10 player in the league. "So why would the Magic give up his robin for Tobias Harris and a bag of chips?" I get they dealt with injuries this season, but Paolo is too good of a player to be getting bounced in the first round year after year. Although Franz and Paolo are a tuff young duo in terms of talent, they don't really fit that well next to one another as they are both "do-it-all" big guards. Watching them play, their similar playstyles seem to clash at times, and with Paolo being the better player, Franz would have to go. Therefore, Pistons would get Wagner back to Michigan(where he went to college) as the stretch big that they so desperately need. Although he is really a point forward, he wouldn't need to handle the ball since he'd be playing with Cade. And for the Magic, they'd replace Wagner with a savvy veteran who fills in the forward position, an athletic wing in Holland, and as a Pistons fan I do not want to give up Beasley, but one, there's a chance he might leave anyway trying to chase a bag, and two, the Magic desperately need shooting.
Overall, whether the Pistons run it back or try to chase after a second star like Booker or Franz, I hope they can maintain as much of this core as possible since they are truly a special group that can win titles in the near future.