With seven games to go, the tank is back on for the Pistons.
Already missing key bench player Hamidou Diallo for the rest of the season, the Pistons also shut down leading scorer Jerami Grant on Monday due to a calf strain he suffered in last week's loss to the Wizards. He is done for the year.
All things considered, the loss of Grant comes at the perfect time for Detroit.
For one, it boosts the Pistons' odds of securing one of the top three spots in the draft lottery. At No. 3, they're already tied with the Magic and the Rockets for the best chances of landing the first overall pick (14%) and of landing in the top four (52.1%). If they climb to No. 1 -- they're only a half-game better than the Magic and Rockets -- the Pistons would pick no lower than fourth in June's draft, where they could have not one but two picks in the top 10.
Which brings us back to Grant. He's the most obvious trade chip on Detroit's roster, a 28-year-old wing who scores about 20 a game but doesn't quite fit the timeline of the Pistons' rebuild. The Trail Blazers are reportedly planning a serious push for Grant this summer, prepared to offer Detroit the Pelicans' 2022 first-round pick they'll receive via a prior trade if it falls from Nos. 5 to 14 overall. The Pelicans currently sit at No. 10 in the lottery.
Grant's trade value peaked last season when he averaged a career-high 22.3 points per game in the first year of a three-year, $60 million deal. It took a hit when he got off to an uneven start this season, then missed seven weeks with a finger injury and struggled to find his footing before the deadline. That's when GM Troy Weaver said the Pistons held onto Grant because "teams just didn’t have enough to get him." That is, they didn't offer enough.
It was the right move by Weaver: why sell low? By keeping Grant, the Pistons would allow him to rebuild some of his trade value entering the offseason, where he'd figure to have more suitors. (Hello, Portland.) Of course, the onus was on Grant to do that. It didn't look great when he averaged 15.6 points and 2.6 boards while shooting 38.4 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from three in his first 11 games back from injury.
But in his next 11 games, Grant averaged 22.3 points and 4.1 boards while shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 44.1 percent (!!) from three before his season came to an end. That's quite the statement heading into a summer in which he could be traded. That's the impression his suitors will be left with.
This was a win-win for the Pistons. They improved their lottery leverage by shutting down their top scorer, but not before he re-established himself as a go-to offensive player for teams like the Blazers to see. Portland can much more easily justify trading a lottery pick for the Jerami Grant of the last month than the Jerami Grant of the month prior. And Detroit can much more easily secure a top-four pick without Jerami Grant of the last month in its lineup.