Detroit Can’t Miss Out on Trading for This Western Conference Superstar

The time to swing for the fences is now.

The timeline of this Pistons franchise sped up exponentially this year after they won 60 regular season games and scraped their way to the second round of the postseason. The infrastructure is fimrly in place. They have their superstar, their head coach for the future, their front office decision-maker, and core of intriguing assets from draft picks to homegrown contributors on the bench unit.

It's going to take sacrifice and discipline, but the Pistons need to make some changes if they want to be as sustainable of a playoff team as the Pistons of the early 2000s. There's a superstar in the Western conference superstar guard that isn't disgruntled, but is the sole aging veteran on a roster headed toward a new rebuilding age.

Detroit needs him in their building as soon as they can make the call to the front office of his team.

Trading for Kyrie Irving should be priority No. 1

National NBA insider Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson reported recently that the Pistons are a "realistic suitor" for current Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving.

The Mavericks are ready to hand over the keys of the future over to rookie of the year forward Cooper Flagg. Another haul of young players and draft capitol sounds more enticing to the Dallas front office than holding on to an aging veteran.

REPORT: The Pistons are a “realistic suitor” for Kyrie Irving, per @ScoopB.

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Irving is an aging veteran, but he will have a good two to three more season of averaging more than 20 points before someone as skilled as he is starts properly slowing down. He just needs to be on the timeline of a different franchise. Irving has appeared in two NBA Finals series while winning one of those championships against the record-breaking 73-win Golden State Warriors in 2016.

The championship pedigree he carries in his demeanor and his knowledge for the game would instantly level up a young locker room like Detroit's. Irving's presence alone would raise the pressure of every teammate of his to be better than they were previously. The amount of knowledge superstar Pistons guard Cade Cunningham can absorb from a player like Irving is limitless.

He is exactly what the Pistons need

From efficient jump shooting and confident isolation scoring around the rim and on the perimeter to facilitating the second unit and being comfortable playing with other talented guards, Irving checks off all of the boxes that should be on Detroit's on-court wish list for a trade target. Cunningham needs someone else who can take weight off of his shoulders across all aspects of his point guard duties.

The Pistons are reportedly looking to make another leap this offseason via trade rather than free agency, which makes perfect sense considering their current situation. Pistons big man Jalen Duren is likely going to hit restricted free agency this offseason while young forward Ausar Thompson is eligible for a contract extension already.

The Pistons need a consistent and reliable 20 points to come from somewhere. The formula that solves Cunningham and Duren's two-man game has been decoded and learned by the rest of the NBA after this postseason. The Pistons need to drastically improve their efficiency from deep, they need more space for their wings to operate, and they need offensive explosiveness, creativity, and versatility. Kyrie Irving, even at 34-years-old, provides all of those things for a championship-ready Pistons team.

How it happens

The Pistons front office has full control and no protections all of their first round picks until 2032. They have a mixed bundle of veterans and energetic young players other teams will certainly find attractive. Because of Irving's injury history, his age, and Dallas's projected urgency to get him off the squad before the draft or before the start of the NBA regular season, expect Detroit to avoid having to give such a colossal haul in return for Irving.

The idea of dulling out a massive package of assets including four to five first round picks and three to four players seems unlikely considering the circumstances. The Pistons likely want to see Duren's potential through, but after his performances in the playoffs, the Pistons front office should be exploring, or at least considering, how his inclusion in trades make other teams feel.

Having to miss out on paying Jalen Duren anywhere from $30 to $45 million while gaining Kyrie Irving and saving the extra money on other high-impact frontcourt players seems like an all-around win-win situation for Pistons fans at the moment

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