The Pistons' future could change drastically next month. If they win the NBA Draft lottery, they'll have the right to select Victor Wembanyama, the 7'4, 19-year-old French phenom dubbed an "alien" by LeBron James and "a problem" by Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“A big problem," said Antetokounmpo. "I've never seen this before in my life. He can block shots like Rudy Gobert, but shoot like K-D. Crazy, bro, crazy.”
Even Pistons center Isaiah Stewart acknowledged Monday that Wembanyama would bring a lot to a team coming off a 65-loss season.
"A lot of people rave about him. I’ve watched some of his highlights and he’s a special player. You have a special talent like that, it would bring a lot to a team like this," said Stewart.
Just don't bring this to Pistons GM Troy Weaver who said Tuesday, "I'm not planning around the lottery." That is, he's not building his offseason plan on a variable that's 86 percent likely to break the wrong way.
"I know people look at me crazy all the time," he said. "From day one, I was never dependent on the lottery. It’s exactly what it is, it’s a lottery. I think we have enough in this building to continue to move forward and compete."
Despite finishing last in the NBA, the Pistons only have a 14 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick and a 52.1 percent chance of landing in the top four. This is the modern reality of tanking: there's no sure gain for your pain. Weaver would rather improve the Pistons' roster this offseason by making smart signings and trades than by crossing his fingers the night of May 16.
"Wherever we land, we land, but I’m not planning around what pick we get because that’s not who I am," he said. "I was raised to make a dollar out of 15 cents and I will continue to do that, so I’m not really worried about where a ball drops. Will I celebrate with everybody (if we win)? Absolutely. But I don’t walk around like that. My grandparents would turn over hearing me talk about luck. I got too much faith for that."
Wherever the Pistons wind up drafting -- they're a lock to be in the top five -- they'll be adding another talented player to a core headlined by former No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham, former No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey and former No. 13 pick Jalen Duren. And while Weaver is open to adding a few veterans this summer, specifically "a wing defender who can shoot," he said the biggest priority for the Pistons is "to get healthy."
He pointed to Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks and said, "We got some veteran pieces."
"We’re not averse to adding more, but it’d be nice to get this team healthy," Weaver said. "We had a stretch the season before when we played our best basketball and we had our (full) team on the floor. We hadn’t had that in quite some time. ... Being healthy is going to be huge for us, but if we can add a veteran than will help the group, absolutely, we’ll look at it."
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