Pistons Among Teams Eyeing OG Anunoby
The Pistons are expected to be active in the trade market prior to this season’s deadline and have interest in acquiring a forward, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, who identifies Raptors forward OG Anunoby as one of the players Detroit has its eye on.
Of course, as Edwards acknowledges, Anunoby is a trade target who will appeal to most teams across the NBA, given his three-and-D skill set and his seamless fit on virtually any roster. There’s also no guarantee that Toronto will make him available on or before February 8.
Even if Anunoby ends up on the trade block, it’s possible Detroit won’t aggressively pursue him during the season in the hopes that he could be signed in free agency next summer, Edwards adds. The 26-year-old has a player option for 2024/25 that he’s extremely likely to decline, while the Pistons are well positioned to create a significant amount of cap space in July.
Edwards identifies Sixers forward Tobias Harris as another veteran on an expiring contract who would be of interest to the Pistons, though Harris has played an important role in Philadelphia this season following James Harden‘s exit and seems unlikely to be traded unless it’s for an upgrade.
Losers of 22 consecutive games, the Pistons obviously aren’t looking to make a win-now move that will propel them to playoff contention this season. With that in mind, it may seem counterintuitive that they’d be interested in trading for players like Anunoby and Harris, who can become free agents in 2024.
However, if the Pistons were to acquire Anunoby, Harris, or someone else with a similar contract situation, the player’s Bird rights would be traded along with him, putting the Pistons in a strong position to extend or re-sign him.
Still, I’d be surprised if a lottery-bound team like Detroit is prepared to give up the sort of assets it would take to acquire an established impact player — the Pistons may be better off selling off some of their own veterans at this season’s deadline and taking the same approach next summer that Houston did this past offseason, adding vets in free agency instead of via trade.
Pistons Notes: Wiseman, Losing Streak, Spacing, Ivey
With Jalen Duren and Marvin Bagley III injured, Pistons center James Wiseman received rotation minutes on Wednesday against Philadelphia, finishing with 10 points (on 5-of-7 shooting), three rebounds, one steal and one block, but fouling out in just 16 minutes. Asked after the game about the challenge of defending reigning MVP Joel Embiid (41 points in 31 minutes), Wiseman conceded it was a tall order.
“It was hard, but we tried our best,” the former No. 2 overall pick said (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press). “Especially myself, because I haven’t played that much. I took on the challenge and tried to contain him. I didn’t back down from him.”
It was the 21st consecutive loss for the Pistons, who are now 2-22.
“We just have to keep working hard and figuring it out,” Wiseman said of the team’s spirit, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). “We’re a young squad, young team. We just have to figure it out.”
Wiseman could be a restricted free agent in 2024 if the Pistons give him a qualifying offer.
Here’s more from Detroit:
- The Pistons haven’t won a game since October 28. In a full story for The Athletic, Edwards examines the events that have led to the longest losing streak in franchise history, which is approaching the NBA record for futility. Cade Cunningham‘s season-ending shin injury in 2022/23 started the team down a path of losing that hasn’t reversed, according to Edwards, with excessive turnovers on the court and plenty of turnover in the rotation (mostly due to injuries) also playing factors. There’s plenty of blame to go around for all involved, says Edwards.
- A lack of spacing due to poor outside shooting has been an issue all season for Detroit. Following Monday’s loss to Indiana, which saw the Pistons score a season-high 123 points, head coach Monty Williams said he was still learning how to utilize certain players. “I think we’re starting to figure out that we can score when we space the floor properly,” Williams said (Twitter video link via Bally Sports Detroit). “I’m learning how to use certain guys on the team.” For what it’s worth, the Pacers are 28th in the league in defense; the Pistons scored 111 points tonight against Philadelphia’s ninth-ranked defense.
- It took until Monday for Williams to “allow Jaden Ivey to be Jaden Ivey,” Sankofa writes for The Detroit Free Press (subscriber link). Ivey was the No. 5 pick of last year’s draft and made the All-Rookie Second Team in 2022/23, but his playing time and role have fluctuated in his second season (first under Williams). He finished with 18 points in a season-high 34 minutes on Monday. “Obviously, it’s challenging,” Ivey said. “You’re trying to find yourself, when you play a certain role for a whole year and then are flipped into a different role. It’s like you’re trying to figure out how you can feel good and do your best in that role. It’s hard. The NBA’s hard. You’re playing different roles. I guess any guy can attest to that, playing different roles is hard when you’re trying to find yourself. Obviously it’s been hard and challenging, but my faith, it’s unwavering. My faith in my game. I always believe highly of myself and I’m going to continue to stick with it.”
Warriors, Knicks, Lakers Top Latest NBA Franchise Valuations
The Warriors remain the NBA’s most valuable team, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico (subscription required), who unveiled the website’s updated NBA franchise valuations for 2023 on Wednesday.
Badenhausen projects the Warriors’ value at $8.28 billion, making them one of three teams to surpass the $7 billion mark this year. The Knicks have a projected worth of $7.43 billion, while the Lakers come in at $7.34 billion, per Sportico.
As Badenhausen details, Sportico spoke to more than 30 team executives, owners, investors, bankers, consultants, and lawyers in compiling their latest NBA franchise valuations. According to Sportico, the average value of an NBA team is up 33% from a year ago and 70% from when the site first started publishing valuations three years ago.
A combination of factors are contributing to the soaring value of NBA franchises, says Baudenhausen. Those factors include national media deals, international opportunities, scarcity (ie. only 30 teams are available), and an equal 1/30th stake in the league.
In the past, we’ve used Forbes as our primary source for NBA franchise valuations, but with Badenhausen making the move from Forbes to Sportico in recent years and the outlet establishing itself as a go-to resource for sports business news, we’re highlighting Sportico’s projections in 2023.
Of course, it’s worth noting that figures from Sportico, Forbes, or any other media outlet are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands. But thse projections are usually in the right ballpark and remain useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.
Here’s Sportico’s full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2023:
- Golden State Warriors: $8.28 billion
- New York Knicks: $7.43 billion
- Los Angeles Lakers: $7.34 billion
- Boston Celtics: $5.12 billion
- Chicago Bulls: $4.83 billion
- Los Angeles Clippers: $4.56 billion
- Miami Heat: $4.17 billion
- Philadelphia 76ers: $4.13 billion
- Toronto Raptors: $4.11 billion
- Houston Rockets: $4.05 billion
- Dallas Mavericks: $4.03 billion
- Phoenix Suns: $4 billion
- Brooklyn Nets: $3.98 billion
- Sacramento Kings: $3.46 billion
- Denver Nuggets: $3.4 billion
- Atlanta Hawks: $3.35 billion
- Washington Wizards: $3.33 billion
- San Antonio Spurs: $3.29 billion
- Portland Trail Blazers: $3.28 billion
- Indiana Pacers: $3.27 billion
- Utah Jazz: $3.24 billion
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $3.22 billion
- Milwaukee Bucks: $3.2 billion
- Orlando Magic: $3.12 billion
- Detroit Pistons: $3.1 billion
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $3.08 billion
- Charlotte Hornets: $3 billion
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $2.94 billion
- Memphis Grizzlies: $2.82 billion
- New Orleans Pelicans: $2.72 billion
For the most part, the most significant valuation increases (by percentage) within the last year belonged to the teams on the bottom half of this list. Besides the Bucks, whose projection rose by 32%, every franchise in the bottom 10 received at least a 50% bump from Sportico’s 2022 valuations.
The Nuggets, who cracked the top half of this list following their 2023 championship, were another big riser — their valuation increased by 60% and they moved up six spots.
It’s worth noting that the Mavericks‘ reported valuation in Mark Cuban‘s sale to the Adelson and Dumont families reportedly came in around $3.5 billion, well below Sportico’s valuation.
However, more recent reporting has suggested the final valuation will be closer to $4 billion when the transaction closes. That was also a unique situation since Cuban is retaining control of basketball operations as part of the sale agreement, despite surrendering majority control of the business. He’ll hang onto about 25% of the franchise, according to Sportico.
Community Shootaround: Pistons, Spurs Losing Streaks
Entering Monday’s action, the longest current winning streak in the league belonged to the Timberwolves with six straight victories. No other team had an ongoing streak longer than four games.
As for losing streaks, well that’s a different story. In terms of futility, the Pistons and Spurs are on record-setting runs.
Detroit was supposed to show significant improvement with the return of Cade Cunningham, who missed most of last season with a shin injury. Instead, the Pistons have fallen into a bottomless abyss. They’ve lost 19 straight, easily surpassing their previous single-season losing streak of 14 games.
The Spurs’ franchise was revitalized by winning the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes in the draft lottery. Wembanyama mania was prevalent during the offseason and during camp.
However, San Antonio is only making news now by going 5 ½ weeks without a victory. The Spurs have dropped 16 straight, tying their franchise mark.
Both teams are in action tonight, with Detroit hosting the in-season tournament runners-up Pacers and San Antonio visiting much-improved Houston.
The remainder of the Pistons’ schedule before Christmas looks like this: a home-and-home with Philadelphia, at Milwaukee, at Atlanta, home vs. Utah, and at Brooklyn.
San Antonio’s remaining pre-Christmas schedule goes like this: two home games vs. the Lakers, home vs. New Orleans, at Milwaukee, at Chicago, at Dallas.
That brings us to our topic of the day: Will the Pistons and/or Spurs end their lengthy losing streaks before Christmas? If so, which opponent will they defeat to end their slides?
Please take to the comments section to weigh on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Heading In Opposite Direction Of Young Magic
- The Pistons got blown out by the Magic on Friday for their 19th straight loss. Those two franchises seemed to be on parallel trajectories last season but now, while Orlando has taken off, Detroit is endlessly stuck in the rebuild, James Edwards III of The Athletic notes. “You can see right away that everyone (on the Magic) knows who they are — their roles, what they’re supposed to do when they come in, and they’re connected,” Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart said. “They’re connected. You hear them talking. You can just tell they’re connected.”
Injury Notes: Beal, Suns, Porzingis, Harris, Adebayo, Jazz
Star guard Bradley Beal fully participated in the Suns‘ practice on Thursday, but he’s not quite ready to return from his back injury, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The team wants to get Beal some more practice reps before reinserting him into its lineup, according to head coach Frank Vogel.
“We want to see him stack together a few practices where he responds well,” Vogel said. “No timeline on how many that is or what that looks like, but we want to continue to make sure he’s responding well before we put him back in there. Stay away from being in and out.”
The shorthanded Suns will also be without Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and Grayson Allen (right groin strain) when they host Sacramento on Friday. However, as Rankin relays, Vogel referred to those injuries as “short-term” issues, suggesting Durant and Allen may not miss much – if any – additional time beyond Friday.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- As expected, Kristaps Porzingis appears poised to return for the Celtics after missing four games due to a strained left calf. He’s considered probable to play in Friday’s game vs. New York, according to the team (Twitter link).
[Note: Porzingis has since been upgraded to available.] - Pistons forward Joe Harris, who has been sidelined since November 5 due to a shoulder injury, has been upgraded to questionable for Friday’s game in Orlando, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. Spacing has been an issue this season for the Pistons, who rank 28th in the NBA in three-pointers per game, so the return of Harris, a career 43.6% three-point shooter, could be a boon.
- Heat big man Bam Adebayo will miss a second consecutive game on Friday vs. Cleveland due to his left hip contusion, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Adebayo said earlier this week that he’s unsure about his return timeline.
- The Jazz are close to getting some lineup reinforcements. Jordan Clarkson (right thigh contusion), who has missed the past three games, and Kelly Olynyk (right shoulder strain), who has been out for two in a row, are listed as questionable for Friday vs. the Clippers. Lauri Markkanen (left hamstring strain) will be unavailable for a seventh straight contest, but was a full practice participant on Thursday and just has to tick a couple more boxes before being cleared to return, Sarah Todd of The Deseret News explains.
Pistons’ Duren Out At Least Two Weeks With Ankle Sprain
7:30pm: The Pistons announced in a press release that Duren underwent an MRI on Thursday which confirmed the sprained ankle. He’s out at least two weeks, which is when he’ll be reevaluated, per the team.
6:40pm: Pistons starting center Jalen Duren is expected to be sidelined for the next two weeks after spraining his left ankle in Wednesday’s loss to Memphis, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
It’s a tough setback for Duren, who missed seven games last month due to a right ankle injury. With the 2022 lottery pick out, fellow big men like Isaiah Stewart, Marvin Bagley III and James Wiseman could receive more playing time.
Duren has been effective when healthy in his second season, averaging 12.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 blocks in 28.9 minutes per night. He has posted 10 double-doubles in his 14 appearances.
Injuries have been a major issue for the Pistons in 2023/24, with Duren, Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Livers, Monte Morris and Joe Harris among the players missing significant time. Bogdanovic recently made his season debut after dealing with a calf strain, while Morris (quad) is unlikely to suit up until 2024.
It’s been a disappointing season for Detroit, which hoped to take a step forward in its rebuild. Instead, the team has lost 18 straight games and is currently 2-19 — that’s the worst record in the NBA.
New York Notes: LaVine, DeRozan, Bogdanovic, Dinwiddie, DSJ
The Knicks are searching for ways to upgrade their roster, but they haven’t engaged in serious trade talks with the Bulls about Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan or any other players, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv. New York has been floated as a potential suitor for LaVine and reportedly explored a possible deal with Chicago prior to last season’s deadline. The Bulls are hoping to find a taker for LaVine, but his latest injury setback should cool any interest around the league, at least for a while.
Bojan Bogdanovic has also been a target for the Knicks in the past, but Begley’s sources say Detroit isn’t looking to move him right now. Bogdanovic recently returned from a calf strain, and the Pistons hope he can help snap an 18-game losing streak and get them heading in the right direction before considering any deals.
There’s more from New York City:
- Recent frustration expressed by Knicks guards Josh Hart and Quentin Grimes is the result of a poorly constructed roster with too many redundant players, contends Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Bondy points out that team president Leon Rose created a roster imbalance this summer when he traded power forward Obi Toppin to Indiana for virtually nothing and signed shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo. The move gave New York too many guards and wings, without enough playing time to keep them all satisfied. Grimes is unhappy about losing minutes to DiVincenzo, but Bondy notes that the same situation occurred last year when Evan Fournier was replaced by Grimes. Bondy’s solution is to either move Grimes to the second unit, which would give him more play-making duties, or to balance the roster with a long-rumored trade for another star.
- Spencer Dinwiddie has been willing to adapt his role amid heavy injuries to the Nets‘ backcourt, notes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Ben Simmons, Dennis Smith Jr., Cam Thomas and Lonnie Walker have all missed time already, forcing Dinwiddie to spend more time running the offense, and he has posted one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the league. Dinwiddie will be a free agent next summer, and Lewis says there’s a belief in league circles that his next contract could top the $81MM over four years that Hart received from the Knicks.
- Smith, who refers to himself as “a savage,” has been showing why the Nets were so determined to add him in free agency, observes CJ Holmes of The New York Daily News. Smith returned Saturday after missing six games with a lower back sprain, adding another level of toughness to Brooklyn’s scrappy lineup.
Bogdanovic Should Soon Return To Starting Five
Bojan Bogdanovic is likely to soon regain his starting role with the Pistons, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets. Bogdanovic, who could be a prime target at the trade deadline, made his season debut on Saturday after recovering from a calf strain and scored a team-high 22 points off the bench.
Pistons head coach Monty Williams said that when the team isn’t playing against two “bruisers” in the opposing lineup, it’s likely Bogdanovic will start at power forward when he gets in a rhythm. Against those bigger teams, Bogdanovic would start at small forward with Isaiah Stewart at power forward.
- Even in the midst of the Pistons’ franchise-record 17-game losing streak, Cade Cunningham is showing an improved 3-point stroke, according to Edwards. Cunningham has made 35% of his attempts, compared to 31.4% during his rookie season. He has also converted at least half of his 3-point tries in five of the last seven games. “It was more of a legs thing for me,” Cunningham said of his rookie struggles. “I was playing a lot of minutes, a lot of minutes that I had never played in an NBA season before and had to adjust to stepping back to the NBA 3-point line.”
Central Notes: Weaver, Crowder, White, DeMar
The Pistons are currently mired in a league-worst 17-game losing streak. If Detroit isn’t able to somewhat right this ship, even while clearly headed for the lottery this year, general manager Troy Weaver should be fired so a new front office can thrive, opines Shawn Windsor of The Detroit Free Press.
Windsor writes that the Pistons are currently on a 7.5-game win pace for the rest of the season, which would shatter the current record for a full 82-game NBA slate.
Given that the club will have lots of space under the league’s projected salary cap next summer, through which it could add veterans and make significant transactions to improve, Windsor submits that Weaver should not be in a decision-making role with the Pistons at that juncture — barring some kind of growth this year.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- Following a November 14 surgery to correct a partial tear in his left adductor, Bucks reserve forward Jae Crowder is on the mend, having resumed individual on-court work within the last week, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “When I touched the ball, I was like, ‘All right, I’m getting close,’” Crowder said. The 33-year-old combo forward was a solid two-way contributor for Milwaukee when healthy this year. In his nine healthy games, he’s logging 8.1 PPG on .532/.416/.583 shooting splits, along with 3.9 RPG, 1.7 APG and 0.8 SPG.
- Bulls starting point guard Coby White is enjoying an excellent start to the season for a struggling 7-14 Chicago club. His willingness to shoot from distance early and often has played a part in the team’s current two-game mini-win streak, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. The 6’5″ guard is averaging 15.0 PPG on .427/.403/.846 shooting splits, 4.2 APG, 3.1 RPG and 0.9 SPG. He’s connecting on a career-best 40.3% of his career-most 7.1 three-pointers per night.
- Bulls All-Star small forward DeMar DeRozan seems to be rediscovering the passing game that he developed during his three-year stint with the Spurs, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. To wit, he notched a season-most 10 dimes during Chicago’s surprise 124-118 win over the Pelicans on Saturday. “Just being unselfish, pushing the pace,” DeRozan said of his — and the team’s — approach to the victory.