The Detroit Pistons swap guard Delon Wright to the Sacramento Kings for guard Cory Joseph and two second-round picks, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
What does this mean for the potential push of the Kings ’postseason and the reconstruction of the Pistons?
Kevin Pelton hands out commercial notes for both teams.
The deal
The kings obtain: Delon Wright
The pistons obtain: Cory Joseph, second round selection of 2021 (via LAL) and second round selection of 2024
Get more Pelton commercial notes here
Sacramento Kings: B +
My ESPN teammate, Zach Lowe, reported earlier this week that the Kings are unlikely to be in seller mode within the trade deadline because they don’t feel that far from making the playoffs. Instead, with this deal, Sacramento looks like a buyer.
Despite their negative spread of less than 4.5 points, we cannot rule out the Kings as candidates to reach the play-in tournament, which would be a success for an organization that finished the playoffs when the goalie novice Tyrese Haliburton was 6 years old. . After Wednesday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Kings are three games behind the Golden State Warriors for 10th place in the West, having gained ground in the last 10 games. (Sacramento is 6-4 in this period, and Golden State is 3-7, with Stephen Curry missing the last three).
There are other teams in the mix – the Kings are also behind the New Orleans Pelicans, who were expected to win two more games than Sacramento before the FiveThirtyEight operation – but hope still flickers. The FiveThirtyEight model gave Sacramento a 7% chance of going through the play-in, while projections that used ESPN’s basketball power index made the Kings do it 4% of the time before the results of Wednesday night.
Adding Wright should help push the Sacramento playoffs. While Joseph is a solid defender of the ball, his lack of outside shooting (33% in 3s this season, right in his career) has limited the threat he can pose offensively. The actual shooting percentage of .536 this season is Joseph’s best since 2014-15, but it doesn’t reach Wright’s .565 average. Wright is a slightly stronger three-point shooter (36% this season, 34% career) that provides many of the same defensive advantages as Joseph with more size.
It will be interesting to see how Kings coach Luke Walton mixes and combines Joseph with starting guards Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield. Haliburton and Wright should be especially interchangeable, as they both have the ability to defend various positions on the perimeter and play on or off the ball depending on the clashes.
The biggest benefit of changing Joseph for Wright should come between 2021 and 2222. I would have expected Sacramento to give up Joseph before his $ 12.6 million salary guarantee on the eve of the free agency, leaving- the hooked ones for $ 2.4 million. Wright has a $ 8.5 million contract, along with an additional $ 1.05 million in incentives as reported by my colleague Bobby Marks which is unlikely to succeed. (Wright’s All-Star incentive is one of the most optimistic in the league).
Essentially, then, the Kings add up to just $ 6 million in 2021-22 pay to have Wright hired, making it a bargain for next season that is worth making the second-round pick Sacramento give up this year. season (of the Los Angeles Lakers) and his own second-round pick in 2024.
The Pistons are unlikely to have seen Wright as a part of their long-term future after acquiring him in a three-team deal last season in exchange for Trevor Ariza. He was on the verge of serving as a veteran cadet for rookie goalie Killian Hayes, who started the season as a starter before suffering a hip injury that still keeps him on the sidelines. Joseph can surely play that role just as well the rest of the season for a team heading into the lottery.
From Detroit’s perspective, then, the real trade is that Wright is hired for next season versus choosing between paying Joseph $ 12.6 million or simply eating his $ 2.4 million guarantee. I’d rather have Wright, but I can understand if the Pistons preferred the second-round pick. There are some perks in the Lakers ’second-round pick with Anthony Davis and LeBron James out of play and having a Kings second-round pick has worked pretty well historically.