If the trade deadline has taught us anything about the Detroit Pistons’ relatively new front office regime, led by Senior Advisor Ed Stefanski, it’s that they aren’t afraid to cut their losses. The optics around trading Andre Drummond at the trade deadline for 10 cents on the dollar weren’t ideal, but it was still better than getting zero cents, which would have made zero sense. On Tuesday, we learned that Drummond’s longtime running mate and good buddy Reggie Jackson was being bought-out of the remaining 25 games of his Pistons contract, freeing him to find work elsewhere (he signed with the Clippers Thursday). Let’s discuss the buyout, as well as another trade deadline topic that is still buried in the back of the fridge: a missed opportunity to trade Langston Galloway.

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Inaction Jackson

Reggie Jackson’s 42-game absence due to a back injury simultaneously nuked the Pistons playoff chances and his own trade value in the process. The first part of that statement could eventually have a happy ending, as it forced the Pistons to take a hard look in the mirror and realize that committing to a rebuild was the right move for the future. It’s no secret Jackson was…let’s just say…not my cup of tea. But if you throw out his last handful of games after returning to what was essentially a Pistons estate sale, Jackson technically would have finished his Detroit career as a winning player. According to The Athletic, the team went 145-142 with Jackson in the lineup versus 42-70 with Jackson out across his 5+ years in Detroit. That being said, the Jackson/Drummond duo was a two-headed monster of mediocrity that was finally slain by a front office who realized the two were incapable of realizing their full potential in Detroit.

As far as Jackson’s trade value is concerned, the Pistons reportedly would have settled for a second-round pick (AKA anything) in exchange for his services. However, teams knew they could just wait out the trade deadline and potentially acquire Jackson without giving up anything in the way of future assets since the buyout possibility was always the writing on the wall.

It is interesting that the two L.A. teams were reportedly the ones interested in signing Jackson after the buyout waiver period. Jackson chose the Clippers, but I wonder if (hindsight being 20/20) the Lakers would have given Detroit something at the deadline just to keep him away from their roommates. Mimetic desire, Reggie Jackson-style.

As far as the rest of this season is concerned, this buyout was necessary to thin out what had become a bloated roster after the acquisitions of John Henson and Brandon Knight in the Andre Drummond trade. Luke Kennard will be returning from a long absence and will need his minutes back. Young unknowns like Jordan Bone and Louis King need to be evaluated prior to the end of the season to determine their future in Detroit (if they even have one). They are even giving a 10-day look at Derrick Walton Jr. (Go Blue!) in the hopes of finding some buried treasure at PG. Reggie Jackson had become nothing more than a 5yr/$80 million roadblock preventing the Pistons from taking the express lane to rebuild town. 

On a positive note, the buyout of Jackson will likely earn the Pistons a couple of extra losses. This could be crucial for landing some extra draft lottery balls. While the Pistons currently hold the sixth-worst record in the NBA, they have one of the most difficult schedules remaining, giving them an outside shot at a bottom-3 record (the three worst records share the best lottery odds equally). FiveThirtyEight projects the Pistons for just five more wins this season (24-58).

Mercifully, it’s time for both parties to go their separate ways. As I attempted to do with Andre (poorly), I will try to say something nice about Reggie on his way out the door. After all, as Louis CK put it, being in a bad marriage is like “holding in a shit for your entire life”. No one needs that toxicity (literally). 

Timestamp – 30:20

While Reggie Jackson’s unlikable combination of on-court swagger and off-court aloofness always rubbed me the wrong way, I don’t think he is a bad guy. Outside of some general jackass-ery and jabs at fans, you won’t find any scandals or incriminating events in Jackson’s past. You have to dig deep to find them, but he did occasionally give you moments to see a real person behind that medieval shield he seemed to always carry around. Unlike Drummond, I think Jackson is talented and self-aware enough to be able to help a contender. I rarely root for players once they leave town, but I do hope he finds happiness wherever the rest of his career takes him. That has always appeared to elude him, and I don’t think the team or city is to blame for that. After all, unhappy-ing his way out of Oklahoma City in 2015 was how he wound up in Detroit in the first place.

The “Big-3” is now the “Big-1”.

Still Lang-ing around

Langston Galloway was linked to the Philadelphia 76ers, who were looking to acquire outside shooting help at the trade deadline. Galloway certainly checks that box, as he is shooting a career-high .398 from three this season. He is a serviceable defender and a high-energy, low-maintenance, high-character guy. Sounds like the recipe for a valuable modern-NBA role-player to me.

Yet, according to Stefanski, the market simply wasn’t there for Galloway, even though sources say the Pistons would have accepted a second-round pick in return. Philadelphia instead ended up trading three second-round picks to Golden State (the rich get richer) for Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III (Go Blue!) to satisfy their outside shooting needs. Galloway has made more career threes (584) than the other two combined (541), and he’s done it in over 350 fewer games. Something doesn’t add up here.

Galloway is no stranger to being dealt at the trade deadline – he was a part of the Pelicans/Kings Demarcus Cousins deal in 2017. He is an even better player now, though with all the moving parts in that deal it is hardly an apples-to-apples trade value comparison. Still, if we are to believe the Pistons in their intentions, this feels like a deal that would have helped both Detroit and Philadelphia.

If I were Philly I would much rather have Galloway for the price of one second-rounder than what they ended up spending on Burks and Robinson. While far from an exact science, second-round picks – when they hit – produce cost-controlled young talent, something every team covets. What are the odds that none of the three picks they surrendered pan out? Philadelphia’s “process” better produce a title soon, because there won’t be much of a future with more moves of this ilk.

I’m really confused why teams are so willing to part with second-round picks like they can be found between the couch cushions, and why so many “experts” and analysts give these picks such little value. What do you think of these names?

PG- Devonte Graham | SG- Malcom Brogdon | SF- Josh Richardson | PF- Montrezl Harrell | C- Mitchell Robinson

There you go. I just made a starting-5 of second-round picks drafted in the last five years alone. I can give you a well rounded bench to go with that, but you get the point.

If this is a case of the Pistons failing to pull the trigger on a Galloway trade in time and the ship sailing, then Stefanski dropped the ball here. If the 76ers preferred the Golden State deal instead of trading for Galloway, shame on them.

Either way, we all lose.

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