The Knicks’ deal for Mikal Bridges once looked like the kind of move that would get laughed at for years. Five first-round picks for a player who had never made an All-Star team?
That was the reaction then. It looks a lot different now.
New York decided Bridges was the last piece it needed and paid the price to get him. The cost was massive, but the payoff has already been real: one title in the bank and a championship window that should stay open for at least a couple more seasons.
That’s the kind of swing the Pistons may have to consider if they want to take the next step.
Detroit is close enough to start thinking like a contender, but not close enough to assume the current group will be enough. If the Pistons want to get over the top, they may need to make a move that feels expensive in the moment and obvious later. Nickeil Alexander-Walker fits that mold.
The painful part for Detroit is that he was there for the taking last offseason, but the Pistons went with Caris freaking LeVert instead, mostly because LeVert would accept a shorter contract. Since then, NAW has won Most Improved Player and turned into one of the East’s best two-way wings. That one stings.
Alexander-Walker brings exactly the kind of profile teams pay up for. He’s one of the best 3-point shooters in the league and is averaging over 10 attempts per game.
He can also lock in on the ball defensively, giving the Pistons another elite perimeter stopper. On top of that, he has the durability angle that made Bridges so appealing to New York, having missed only four games over the last three seasons combined.
He’d give Detroit a real 3-and-D wing, but that’s not all. Alexander-Walker can also create a little offense, and that traces back to his early days as a point guard in New Orleans before he was shifted into a different role with later teams.
In other words, he checks a lot of boxes for a team trying to become something bigger.
The catch is that he won’t come cheap. Alexander-Walker is a productive 20+ppg scorer who can defend, and he’s on a super team-friendly deal that might be the best value in the entire NBA. That kind of contract makes him even harder to pry away.
Atlanta has no real incentive to move him unless it wants to reset again, so it would take a godfather offer to get a deal done. It may not take five first-round picks, but it probably won’t be all that far off.
Detroit could handle that kind of package if the framework is mostly draft picks. The Pistons control all of their future picks and already have plenty of young talent in place. Like the Knicks, they have the core; what they may need is the final piece, even if that means overpaying for it.
And just like in New York, if that gamble ends with a title, nobody will spend much time worrying about the picks.
In Other News...
Pistons Fans Have A New Reason To Revisit That Embiid Ending
The Pistons left Philadelphia with a 112-106 loss, but the game will be remembered in Detroit for more than the final score. Joel Embiid was assessed a flagrant foul penalty 1 after kicking Cade Cunningham in the groin, and he also picked up a technical foul for shoving another player in a night that had plenty of edge to it.
Embiid still produced a double-double with 26 points and 15 rebounds, adding another big night to a career that keeps climbing the 76ers record book. For Pistons fans, though, the lasting image is less about his numbers and more about the ending, which gave Cunningham and Detroit plenty to think about after a frustrating finish. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious After Embiid Incident
The sequence involving Joel Embiid and Jaden Cunningham was the kind of moment that can leave a crowd stewing long after the whistle. Near the three-point line, Embiid unintentionally struck Cunningham in the groin while defending, and the Pistons forward was left in obvious pain as the play unfolded in front of everyone.
Embiids night did not stop there, either, as he also drew a technical foul for pushing Tolu Smith and was later hit with a retroactive Flagrant 1. Even with the extra scrutiny, he still finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds, and Philadelphia moved to 8-1, leaving Detroit with plenty to gripe about from a game that felt increasingly out of hand. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Look Smarter For Passing On Miles Bridges Now
When Detroit was weighing its options at power forward, Miles Bridges was one of the names in the mix, but the Pistons chose to go another direction and build around players they felt fit better. Instead of making that move, they landed on veterans such as Tobias Harris and John Collins, a pair of additions that gave the front office a different kind of roster construction to work with.
Bridges has long had the scoring and rebounding production that keeps him in the conversation, with career averages of 16 points and 6 rebounds per game, but the defensive questions have followed him from Charlotte to Phoenix. His recent stint with the Suns has only sharpened that concern, with his play on that end drawing criticism and factoring into a decline in Phoenixs defensive rating, which makes Detroits decision to pass look a little wiser in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]