Well, folks. We have a trade. It is absolutely not the trade you were looking for today, but it is a trade nonetheless.
The Utah Jazz are continuing their complete makeover in tearing their team down to the studs to get ready for their campaign in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes. They’ve reportedly traded Bojan Bogdanovic to the Detroit Pistons for Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Again, this isn’t the Kevin Durant or Donovan Mitchell-sized move people had been looking for this offseason. But it might shake up the bottom of the Eastern Conference quite a bit.
Let’s dive into these trade grades.
The Details
The Pistons get:
- Bojan Bogdanovic
The Jazz get:
- Kelly Olynyk
- Saben Lee
The Detroit Pistons are finalizing a trade to acquire Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic for Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 22, 2022
Detroit Pistons
GRADE: B+
My initial reaction to this trade was “what do the Pistons want with Bojan Bogdanovic?” He’s a player who is very clearly in the midst of his prime years and may be heading to his twilight soon at 33 years old.
But on the court he’s a perfect fit. He’s an excellent shooter who basically took 7 3-pointers per game last season and shot 38% on them, which is just a smidge under his career mark at 39%. He’s got size at 6’7 and can swing between that stretch-4 and big wing role for the Pistons.
The problem is he very clearly doesn’t fit in with the timeline of the rest of the Pistons group. He’s 33. Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey are 20. Saddiq Bey is 23. He’s got a decade on the Pistons’ core pieces, so he may be speeding their timeline up quite a bit here.
With that being said, he’s a definite upgrade to their wing rotation for, really, what amounts to nothing.
Utah Jazz
Grade: B-
Look, the Jazz are absolutely tanking. So it’s not like there’s actually much to grade here.
But this move doesn’t feel like it really helps them toward their goal that much aside from getting rid of Bogdanovic, who was probably going to be their best player this season.
This is a solid deal that gets them a couple pieces they can move off of fairly easily. Olynyk has two years left on his deal with the final year partially guaranteed. Lee is also on a rookie deal with a team option for next season.
Contracts involved in the trade
To Detroit
💰Bogdanovic- $19.5M (expiring)To Utah
💰Olynyk- $12.8M and $12.2M ($3M GTY)
💰Lee- $1.75M and $1.9M (Team)— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 22, 2022
There’s no harm done here, obviously. But, at the same time, with as long as they’ve been holding out on trading Bogdanovic, you just thought the Jazz would get some sort of pick compensation here.
A first-rounder may be a bit much. But no second-rounder? Not even a deep future, heavily protected first? I don’t know. Maybe this is just me nitpicking, but I expected a bit more out of Danny Ainge here.
Regardless, this is a fine trade if you want to get worse. The Jazz have firmly planted their flag on Wembanyama island. Best of luck to them — they’re going to need it.
