The Detroit Pistons' season ended with acute heartbreak on Thursday night, as Jalen Brunson buried a filthy game-winning 3 in the final seconds to propel the New York Knicks to the second round.
This was always the most likely outcome — New York has more experience and more raw talent — but Detroit made this a pleasantly competitive series. If not for a few wonky calls and youthful moments along the way, there's a good chance the Pistons would be the team advancing to face Boston right now. More often than not, Detroit was on New York's level, maybe even a shade above it.
Of course, the majority of the credit belongs to Cade Cunningham, who has made the full-blown star leap as Detroit's primary creator this season. He is what every front office dreams of in a No. 1 overall pick: a big, strong-bodied playmaker who reads the floor at warp speed, punishes mismatches with his physicality and effortlessly buries shots at all three levels.
The Pistons have the foundation in place. Next up, it's time to find Cunningham's running mate for the foreseeable future. Detroit does not own its first-round pick for the first time in ages, so for once, the Pistons won't be looking for this co-star at the top of the draft. Instead, Detroit needs to look to free agency and the trade market to track down a difference-maker.
Frankly, the dream candidate is already in their own division.
Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided's daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend. If you hate it, share it with an enemy!
Pistons should throw everything and the kitchen sink at Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo
Look, will the Milwaukee Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo in the division to Detroit? Maybe not, but this trade sweepstakes — assuming that's where we're heading — should be a meritocracy. The best package wins. Milwaukee is transitioning into a new era, one that in all likelihood will not involve competing for a championship for the remainder of Giannis' prime. If the Pistons offer the most, well, the Pistons should win.
Obviously Detroit is not including Cunningham in those discussions, although that is an interesting debate on its own. The Pistons aren't equipped with as many top-shelf assets as, say, the Houston Rockets or the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Detroit can put together a fairly aggressive offer.
Tobias Harris probably anchors any package as salary filler, along with a potpourri of Detroit youngsters to pique Milwaukee's interest. Harris, Ausar Thomspon, Jaden Ivey and Isaiah Stewart works in the trade machine. Other names, such as Jalen Duren and Ron Holland, are bound to come up in those conversations as well.
Detroit can trade its unprotected first-round picks in 2027, 2029 and 2031, along with swaps in 2028 and 2030. The Pistons should tread carefully when it comes to unloading the whole entire clip, but we are talking about Giannis, a top-3 player in the middle of his prime at 30 years old. He's also under contract through 2027, so the Pistons get at least two years of guaranteed, MVP-level production from the Greek 7-footer.
The Pistons are going to face stiff competition, and Giannis is sure to have market preferences other than Motown, but this is not as far-fetched as it may seem as first blush. It's hard to overstate how dominant Cunningham and Antetokounmpo would be as a duo. It's sort of like the Damian Lillard pairing, but Cunningham is a decade younger, several inches taller, a much better defender and far more impactful inside the arc.
This trade puts Detroit on a tight timeline, sure, but Cunningham has a long, All-NBA level career ahead of him, even after Giannis ages out of his prime. The Pistons would need to work hard to ensure that Antetokounmpo re-signs once his contract expires, but what's life without a little risk? Trajan Langdon ought to pick up the phone and find out.