The Detroit Pistons are negotiating goalie Delon Wright at the Sacramento Kings for goalie Cory Joseph and two second-round picks, sources for ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said.
What does this mean for the post-season potential of the kings and for the reconstruction of the Pistons?
Kevin Pelton shares commercial notes for both teams.
Understanding
Kings receive: Delon Wright
The pistons obtain: Cory Joseph, the election in the second round of 2021 (through LAL) and the election in the second round of 2024
Get more commercial notes from Pelton here
Sacramento Kings: B +
My ESPN colleague Zach Lowe reported earlier this week that Kings are unlikely to be in sell mode at the trading deadline because I don’t feel like I’m that far from making the playoffs. Instead, with this business, Sacramento looks like a buyer.
Despite their negative differential of minus-4.5 points, we can’t cancel Kings as a competitor to reach the play-in tournament, which would be an achievement for an organization that made the playoffs the last time rookie goalie Tyrese Haliburton was 6 years old. After Wednesday’s win against the Atlanta Hawks, the Kings are three games behind the Golden State Warriors for 10th place in the West, having won the field in the last 10 games. (Sacramento is 6-4 this time, 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, which were projected to win two more games than Sacramento before being traded by FiveThirtyEight – but hope is still flickering. The FiveThirtyEight model gave Sacramento a 7% chance of reaching play-in, while screenings using the ESPN Basketball Power Index made Kings do so 4% of the time before the playoff results. Wednesday evening.
Wright’s addition should help Sacramento playoff. Although Joseph is a solid defender on the ball, his lack of outside shooting (33% in 3s this season, even on the path of his career) has limited the threat he can pose offensively. The true shooting percentage this .536 season is Joseph’s best from 2014-15, but still exceeds Wright’s .565 average. Wright is a slightly stronger 3-point shooter (36% this season, 34% career) that offers many of the same defensive advantages as multi-dimensional Joseph.
It will be interesting to see how Kings coach Luke Walton mixes and combines Joseph with Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield. Haliburton and Wright should be particularly interchangeable, as they both have the ability to defend multiple positions on the perimeter and play on or off the ball, depending on the matches.
The greater benefit of Joseph’s exchange with Wright should come in 2021-22. I would have expected Sacramento to give up Joseph before his full $ 12.6 million salary guarantee on the eve of a free agency, leaving them with $ 2.4 million. Wright has a $ 8.5 million contract, along with other $ 1.05 million incentives as my colleague Bobby Marks reported that he is unlikely to realize. (Wright’s All-Star stimulation is among the most optimistic in the league.)
In essence, then, Kings only add $ 6 million to his 2021-22 salary to have Wright under contract, making him a bargain for next season, which deserves the final round option that Sacramento is giving up this season ( from the Los Angeles Lakers) and his second-round pick in 2024.
The Pistons are unlikely to have ever seen Wright as a long-term part of their future after buying him in a three-team deal outside of last season in exchange for Trevor Ariza. He was about to serve as a veteran caddy for rookie goalkeeper Killian Hayes, who started the season as a starter before suffering a hip injury that still has him on the sidelines. Joseph can certainly play that role just as well as the rest of the season for a team heading to the lottery.
From a Detroit perspective, then, the real trade has Wright under contract for next season, compared to choosing between paying Joseph $ 12.6 million or simply increasing his $ 2.4 million guarantee. I’d rather have Wright, but I can understand if the Pistons preferred the second-round pick. There is some doubt in the Lakers ‘second-round pick, with both Anthony Davis and LeBron James out of the game, and the Kings’ second-round pick has worked quite well historically.