The Pistons did make a deal before Thursday's trade deadline, but not the one many expected.
While Delon Wright was shipped to the Kings for Cory Joseph and a pair of second-round picks, Wayne Ellington stayed put. Ellington seemed like the ideal trade chip, an impending free agent making the vet minimum who's shooting a career-high 43.1 percent from three.
But Ellington helps the Pistons compete, which was one of GM Troy Weaver's stated goals this season. He's also a valuable presence on a young team. Ultimately, the Pistons valued those qualities more than the trade offers on the table.
"Wayne Ellington, his shooting and professionalism and who he is, it was hard to part ways," Weaver said Friday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "We only thought about moving him on if it gave him a chance to go compete to win a championship. And nothing good enough came in front of us for that, so we decided to keep Wayne."
Regarding the Wright trade, Weaver said it was important to the Pistons to add more second-round picks -- they now have three in this year's draft -- and open up minutes at point guard for Killian Hayes, Saben Lee and Dennis Smith Jr. for the rest of this season.
"We traded for Delon in the offseason and he did a tremendous job. With his versatility he was able to fill in at the 1 and the 2 and really flourish and kind of resurrected his career. But we wanted to replenish our second-round picks and give those young guys a chance to grow. We thought it was a good proposition for us," Weaver said.
He said the second-rounders will give the Pistons "flexibility" this offseason to either move up the draft board or "package them to acquire some different players." On top of that, Weaver said "those second-round picks change the game" because they come on two-way contracts.
"Just like last year, we drafted Saben and we already had a deal for him on a two-way contract so we were able to draft him. We like having the currency to be able to do that in the future as well, so that also went into our thinking in acquiring those picks," Weaver said.
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Hayes, the seventh overall pick in last year's draft, is nearing a return from the hip injury he suffered in January. Weaver is eager to see how he performs down the stretch.
"It's important to get him back out there and get him going so he can get his feet under him and settle in," Weaver said "We'll see him here very soon. Definitely excited to get him back out there. You can never replace playing time in your growth and development, so that will be extremely important for him."
