Pistons Made Exploratory Call About Potential Griffin/Wall Trade

The Pistons made an exploratory call to the Wizards in recent weeks to ask about the possibility of a trade involving Blake Griffin and John Wall, sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.

However, Detroit’s level of interest in that sort of deal is unclear, according to Lowe, who says that conversations didn’t go anywhere.

Lowe speculates that the Pistons likely would’ve wanted extra assets in any swap involving the two former All-Stars, since the team values Griffin. Plus, Wall has an extra year left on his slightly-pricier contract. He’s due about $133MM over the next three years, while Griffin “only” has about $75.8MM left over two years.

While a deal between the two teams would be an interesting one, it doesn’t appear to have any momentum, and the Wizards don’t seem to be actively exploring the market for Wall. A report last week indicated that former No. 1 overall pick had made it clear he wants to be traded out of Washington, but general manager Tommy Sheppard denied on Monday that Wall had asked him for a trade, and said the team has no plans to move its starting point guard.

Fred Katz of The Athletic wonders if the Wizards will take a similar approach to Wall that the Thunder did last year with Chris Paul. Oklahoma City would’ve had a tough time getting any positive value for Paul in 2019, but after he rebuilt his value with a strong ’19/20 performance, teams were more willing to roll the dice on him, particularly with just two years left on his oversized contract. If Wall comes back strong in ’20/21, it may increase the odds of an eventual deal.

For what it’s worth, Wall was asked at a community event on Tuesday if he had requested a trade and replied, “No comment” (Twitter link via Ava Wallace of The Washington Post).

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