Evaluating pros and cons of Michael Porter Jr. trade for Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons are the top seed in the East and despite massive success, there has been a ton of talk as to whether or not they will make a trade ahead of the February 5th trade deadline.

Analysts continually claim that the roster has holes, despite the Pistons holding the number one seed since November.

While rumors for stars like Anthony Davis have since faded, the Pistons have remained a top team discussed in trade rumors since securing that coveted top seed.

With a huge amount of draft capital saved up within the next few drafts, the Pistons remain in a prime position to go “all-in” and trade some of those picks for a star player now.

Michael Porter Jr. enters the rumor mill

As the season progresses and the trade rumors continue to fire, it seems likely that the Pistons are at minimum shopping heavily for a win-now move.

The current rumor working its way through the mill is for Michael Porter Jr., this rumor is especially popular as there seems to be multiple avenues possible to make it happen. One of these possibilities would be a potential resolution to the Jaden Ivey dilemma.

Any Pistons trade for MPJ would be rooted in Tobias Harris, as Porter would be taking his starting role. However, it would take much more than Harris to pry a potential all star in MPJ off of the Nets.

Trade Logistics

This is where Pistons fans can get creative with the package, as some fans think it’s in the team's best interest to part ways with Ivey and draft capital to round out the deal.

Whereas, other fans have expressed a preference to ship out LeVert, or even Ron Holland, and additional draft capital to land MPJ.

The key difference in these two deals, other than the players, is the Pistons would likely have to give up a bit more draft capital if they exclude Ivey from the deal. Since the Pistons have more than enough draft capital to make either deal happen, it just comes down to preference.

Which trade is better?

If the Pistons do decide to acquire Michael Porter Jr. it would probably be in their best interest to do the Jaden Ivey deal, primarily because they will unlikely be able to afford to retain both Ivey and Duren.

With MPJ on the books and extensions on the horizon, the Pistons would be unable to afford to extend Ivey and Duren to the contracts that each player would desire.

Since the Pistons cannot afford all of these players, it would be in their best interest to ship Ivey off and keep whatever extra draft capital they can.

This move gives the Pistons a more expansive opportunity to win now, with a player that has won a championship, in exchange for offseason financial flexibility.

What should the Pistons do?

If the Pistons do make a move like this, it would be a clear indication that they think they can win a championship this season. However, acquiring MPJ sacrifices financial flexibility this offseason.

This sacrifice would mean that the Pistons cannot go after free agents as aggressively in the offseason and would have to brace for apron penalties.

So, while the move would make the roster more competitive this season, it would restrict the Pistons capabilities to stay the most competitive in seasons to come.