The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, and the Pistons have a few pieces who could appeal to buyers -- headlined by Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Beasley. But with the Pistons aiming for the playoffs themselves, they aren't necessarily sellers.
"We're pleased with the guys that we have," head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "Obviously we're still a work in progress, but evaluating the guys that we have is a big part of what we're trying to accomplish. Being in a playoff hunt, post All-Star break, and seeing how guys deal with the pressure of meaningful basketball games and how they respond in those moments is an important part of our evaluation. But I think our guys have earned a chance see it through."
As Bickerstaff noted, it's mostly up to Trajan Langdon, who acknowledged last month that the Pistons are "definitely ahead of schedule" in his first season as president of basketball operations and in Bickerstaff's first season as coach. They were .500 when Langdon said that and they're .500 now, 25-25 and a half game behind the Heat for the sixth seed in the East, which would take the Pistons out of the play-in tournament.
Either way, buoyed by the rise of Cade Cunningham, they look headed for their first postseason appearance in six years. It would mark a significant step for the Pistons on the heels of the worst season in franchise history and one of the worst five-year stretches in NBA history.
"I know Trajan will always do what's best by the team and best by the organization, not just in the short term but in the long term as well," said Bickerstaff. "But again, we like the group we have. We feel confident and comfortable giving them the opportunity to finish what they've started."
The Pistons will certainly get calls on Beasley. He's averaging 16.3 points per game and shooting over 40 percent from three off the bench on a $6 million salary, an asset any contender would want to add to its roster. But the Pistons are in no rush to move him. They'd have to be blown away by an offer to do so.
"We love Malik," said Bickerstaff. "Obviously, you saw what happened with Luka (Doncic) the other day and the trades that are happening. No one in this league at this point in time is untouchable. But it's going to take something really special, in my opinion, for us to move off of Malik, because he means so much, not just with his ability to put the ball in the basket, but the spirit that he has every single day, the way he carries himself, the way he works, the way he engages his teammates and the way he goes out and competes. We're happy with Malik. I love everything that he's brought to this team, and that's where we stand with that."
Fellow veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who's on an expiring contract with a $16 million salary, could also draw trade interest. He's averaging about 10 points per game and shooting 37.4 percent from three. Isaiah Stewart is another movable asset, but the backup center won't have the same value on the trade market that he does to the Pistons as an emotional leader.
The deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. On his drive into the Pistons' facility Tuesday morning, Bickerstaff said he was about to sit down with Langdon "to have a long conversation about everything that's on the table."
"Trajan and I talk consistently about types of players, types of people, balancing chemistry and change and all those things, and then he'll present what's on the table to me and we'll have a conversation about what's best for the team long term," Bickerstaff said. "So, I'm a part of (the discussions) at the end of it, I guess you could say. But we have the same philosophy on type of person, type of player and what we're trying to accomplish here in the long term."
