The Suns and Pistons are discussing a possible trade that would send Luke Kennard to Phoenix, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that a Suns first-round pick is in play.
Kennard, 23, is a career 40.2% three-point shooter and had taken on an increased role in Detroit this season, averaging a career-best 15.8 PPG and 4.1 APG in 32.9 minutes per contest. The 23-year-old has been limited to 28 games, having been sidelined since December 21 with a knee injury.
A third-year guard who will be extension-eligible during the 2020 offseason, Kennard could be a nice fit on a Suns team that has lacked reliable outside shooting. Phoenix ranks among the NBA’s bottom 10 teams in terms of both three-point attempts and three-point percentage this season, and the club’s most consistent long-distance threat has been a rookie, Cameron Johnson.
It wouldn’t be difficult for Phoenix to match Kennard’s $3.8MM salary — Wojnarowski suggests (via Twitter) that a potential package gaining some traction would feature Jevon Carter, Elie Okobo, and a first-round pick.. If the Suns are willing to part with their 2020 first-rounder, I expect they’d want to add some form of protection, since it currently projects to land at No. 11.
As Gina Mizell of The Athletic tweets, the Suns’ current VP of basketball operations, Jeff Bower, was the Pistons’ general manager when Detroit selected Kennard with the No. 12 pick in the 2017 draft, so he’s very familiar with the former Duke standout. Phoenix envisions Kennard as a floor-spacer who could complement scorers and play-makers like Devin Booker, Kelly Oubre, and Ricky Rubio, per Wojnarowski.
The hell?
Isn’t Luke someone the Pistons should be trying to build around?!
Lol that’s what I was thinking. I don’t understand what they are trying to accomplish.
Why are we acting like Kennard is good? Lol. In his first two seasons he averaged like 8.5 points and 3 rebounds. He’s good because he played well in 20 games before he got hurt?
I don’t disagree with the strategy if Detroit can get a 1st round pick
Or maybe he’s reaching his potential?
The dude was averaging 17/4/3 before that injury shooting almost at 50/40/90 ……
He’s young, he’s good, he’s efficient and that’s what a rebuilding team should be keeping
Why not trade oubre for Kuzma?? I mean they both have great potential but Kuzma isn’t working out in LA really and I’m sure oubre probably would rather play for the Lakers than the suns. It doesn’t have to be a 1 for 1 trade they can put other things in the trade to.
That sounds fantastic!
Top 4 protection seems like it would be enough. In what looks like a very mediocre draft, I’d get rid of a late lotto pick for Kennard without question
Piston want to dump Kennard but want a high lotto for D Rose?
ah, the man they call “Cool Hand Luke”
Selling high for sure.
Fully done with trying to come up with ideas to fix the pistons. If Luke Kennard is traded for some scraps then it’s the end of this team for the next 10 years.
They’ll trade Kennard, keep Griffin and pay overs to keep Drummond….
Atleast it only makes the east easier…
Kennard is the only good thing happening in this joke of a franchise…..
Trading Kennard doesn’t set a team back 10 years…
It kinda does a little….
Not exactly him directly but moving forward the team will have Griffin for another 3/4 years on 40 mil, it’ll have to extend Drummond for another 4/5 years on 30 mil ish which ties up all your salary cap on two average guys…
That’s half the decade gone only getting worse then after that Griffin will be near mid 30’s, Drummond will be about 30 and your not even competitive…
You’ll spend the next 5 years of the decade then trying to rebuild… whereas Kennard in 5 years will be 28 and in the prime of his career probably averaging nearly 20/5/5 while still shooting efficiently
Pistons are in full rebuild mode. A 1st for Kennard is great. Need to get all the 1st possible back for anyone so they can use them to move Griffin this summer.
Kennard over Mitchell will forever haunt the Pistons
I guess…I mean Fultz, Malik Monk, Dennis Smith Jr. Nitilikina, Josh Jackson and Lonzo Ball all went before Kennard so…
Except Mitchell slid a few spots if I remember correctly.
Yup and pistons worked him out privately days before.
I mean a lot worse players went before both of them (Monk, DSJ, Ntilikina, Jackson, Ball, Fultz, etc)
Kennard was taken 12th and this year has put up 16/4/3 in his third season that’s pretty alright if you ask me.
Obviously SpidaMitchell has gone on to b one of the best players from that draft class but oh well I’d rather Kennard than Monk…
Bam Adebayo went 14th too wouldn’t he be cool on the Mavs over DSJ
True about his draft but that’s not Kennard’s fault– the team already had another pell-mell player in Reggie Jackson.
Maybe Kennard should move on to get out of that cloud over his head and leave the Pistons like Tazza said.
What people forget is that this stuff does not occur in a vacuum. There is no guarantee that Mitchell becomes a star if he didn’t have the opportunity presented in Utah. He was able to boost his confidence by getting all the minutes with the Jazz. If the Pistons picked him, he might be in the same boat as Kennard right now. Looking like a potentially good NBA player that is just not getting the opportunity to play.
Kennard is a career backup masquerading as a starter. Imagine if Marco Belinelli got paid after his rookie deal, instead of bouncing around on two-year deals his entire career.
Hate to see either player besmirched, but Kennard is well ahead. Belinelli of course had more to adjust to but did not break out until his 4th year with his 3rd team. Still, Kennard is already more versatile in his 3rd year; can be a halfcourt playmaker if need be; getting better except for defense & durability, which is typical this year in the NBA.
I’d like to see Jevon Carter in a Celtics uniform. He’s from WVU, which I live close to, and the C’s are my team.
I was bummed when Kevin Pitsnogle didn’t work put in Boston. He’s a gym teacher now