Reggie Jackson trade rumors: Will the Pistons find any takers?

The Detroit Pistons are interested in trading for premier NBA point guard Eric Bledsoe, according to The New York Times’ Marc Stein.

Bledsoe makes $14.5 million this season. Detroit would need to shed Reggie Jackson’s $16 million contract in order to make room for Bledsoe’s salary but keep the core pieces of their team together. But Stein also reported that the Pistons would need to attach a significant player or asset to Jackson’s contract for the Phoenix Suns to take him back in a deal.

And ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski followed Stein, reporting the Suns would rather not take back Jackson at all:

Jackson was regarded one of the NBA’s premier young point guards when Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons showered him with a then-lucrative five-year, $80 million contract extension. In the 27 games he played in the 2015-16 season after Oklahoma City dealt him to Detroit, Jackson averaged 17.6 points, 9.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Those are borderline All-Star numbers, though the Pistons finished just 11-17 after the trade.

But Detroit’s guard has shown little growth as a floor general since signing the extension in 2015. Instead, it’s been more of the same.

Jackson is an incredible one-on-one scorer. He can break even the peskiest of defenders down. Corey Brewer is an annoying perimeter defender, in all the right ways, but given enough dribbles, Jackson reduces his ankles to rubble.

Here he is dropping another pesky defender, Philadelphia’s T.J. McConnell:

Here’s one more for good measure, where Jackson makes a fool of Doug McDermott:

Jackson is your textbook volume scorer, a present-day Ben Gordon without the range. That’s what irks Pistons and basketball fans alike — Jackson could easily command a double team, then initiate the offense for his teammates to pick up the slack.

Instead, he dribbles the ball into the ground a la Rajon Rondo, only to chuck up a contested jump shot or layup. For his career, he is a 43 percent shooter, and only 32 percent from distance.

As a result, Jackson’s name has been a never-ending swirl of trade rumors.

The Pistons were “aggressively shopping” him at the trade deadline last season and, according to Stein, discussed sending him to the Magic for D.J. Augustin and Jeff Green. Detroit also discussed sending Jackson to New Orleans for Rajon Rondo and Alexis Ajinca, and the trade rumors became so prevalent, Van Gundy had to text his point guard “we’re not trading you for Ricky Rubio.”

The issue? There aren’t many takers for Jackson, or any player of his style. Teams want ball movement. They want selfless players like Lonzo Ball or Stephen Curry at their point guard spot, and if they’re not in that vein, they had better be transcendent offensive stars like Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving, or a legitimate two-way facilitator like John Wall or Chris Paul.

Another issue? His contract. Jackson signed a five-year, $80 million deal and is on the hook for the remainder of this year’s $16 million salary, as well as more than $35 million in combined payout over the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. That’s over $50 million another team will have to pay for a player who they might not even really want.

That’s because Jackson, much like Monta Ellis, is an outlier; one of the last of a dying breed of guards conditioned to get buckets. And it doesn’t seem the Pistons want him anymore.

It’s a tough question given the state of the NBA and Jackson’s skill set. He’s not a bad player, per se. His skill set just might be dated, and the Pistons will have to pay — by way of either a first-round pick or a talented young player — to unload his contract.

A team not immediately competing for now that could use any player with relative talent. Attach a pick or a young player (hi, Stanley Johnson) and the Bulls will probably pull the trigger on a player who could make them at least a modicum better. After all, Jackson — problems and all — is higher on the point guard totem pole than Kris Dunn, Cameron Payne or Jerian Grant.

Elfrid Payton and D.J. Augustin share the floor general duties, but Jackson could outscore those two (combined 16.8 points per game) with one arm tied behind his back. All of a sudden, with Frank Vogel clearly communicating to Jackson that the offense runs through Aaron Gordon, the Magic become a fun team to watch again.

Playing meaningful basketball might give Jackson a breath of fresh air, and after Mike D’Antoni turned Raymond Felton into an All-Star candidate in New York, Reggie Jackson could morph into a Sixth Man candidate in spots off the Rockets’ bench.

Finally, if Jackson can’t get traded and the Pistons buy him out, the Cavaliers have a need for a point guard until Isaiah Thomas returns from injury, and the San Antonio Spurs could always use another point guard while Tony Parker sits out after rupturing his quad in last year’s playoffs. The Pelicans could also fit in here with Jackson’s contract bought out.

These are a few options the Pistons and Jackson have to maneuver the second part of their relationship. Like Wale rapped in The Break-up Song, “breaking up is hard but moving on is even harder.” And the sooner Detroit finds a place to send its ex-starting point guard, the faster both sides can move on.

Here’s where Twitter thinks Jackson would be a good fit: