NBA Trade Deadline 2020: One trade every team should make
Boston Celtics: Gordon Hayward for the Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond and Thon Maker
Reason for Boston: This one hurts, but it could be beneficial regardless. Hayward is awesome, and he’s having an awesome year. However, he may not be on the floor during crunch time for Boston, as Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could all be ahead of him in certain situations. It hurts to trade a guy when he’s finally getting healthy after injury, not to mention after he chose the team in free agency. Danny Ainge doesn’t care about optics. On the plus side, Boston would get a guy who is an elite defender, the best glass cleaner in the league, a fantastic screen setter, and a solid rim runner. Boston would instantly solve its rebounding problem, and Drummond would be unlocked as the only big with four plus-shooters alongside him. His reputation is as an overrated defender who puts up empty stats, but he isn’t that any longer. He can be a defensive terror, and his offensive rebounding is elite, especially on a team that can settle for mid-range shots (cough, Tatum, cough). Drummond gives Boston a number of angles of improvement. The Celtics would miss Hayward, but they would be a better team.
Reason for Detroit: The Pistons are going nowhere fast, especially as Blake Griffin may now be shut down for the remainder of the season for knee surgery. Drummond probably wants to be on a better team. Detroit has some intriguing young talent in Sekou Doumbouya and Christian Wood, but lacks star power. Drummond has plenty of strengths, but he’s not great at creating his own shot. He’s an inefficient scorer for a center, and there’s no one in Detroit to boost his game and set the tables for him. In comes Hayward. Smooth, in control, a good creator, finisher, shooter, Hayward gives the Pistons something they don’t have: a wing initiator. Hayward doesn’t need certain teammates to unlock his game like Drummond does. Hayward would instantly become their best player, and that’s valuable for a team under Tom Gores and Dwane Casey that wants to make the playoffs and be good without tearing down.