Pistons looking to trade Avery Bradley due to fears he’ll leave this summer

The Detroit Pistons have made guard Avery Bradley available on the trade market, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bradley arrived in Detroit by trade last offseason and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The 27-year-old two-way guard was originally in Detroit’s long-term plans when they traded for him last offseason, as shown by their willingness to renounce rights to restricted free agent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and let him walk. However, the Pistons are in a spiral after starting hot this season, losing eight straight, and it appears their long-term goals have changed.

Bradley’s numbers are slightly down from last season with the Boston Celtics, but he’s still performing relatively well on both sides of the ball, averaging 15 points and hitting 38.1 percent of his three-pointers. Still, because Bradley rarely shoots free throws and because his two-point percentages are down, his True Shooting Percentage (49.7 percent) has dipped below 50 percent for the first time in five seasons.

Detroit is already set to pay $101 million in guaranteed money next season, meaning they would have to pay Bradley’s potential $15-20 million per year well over the cap if they re-signed him. If the Pistons were a high-end playoff team, that price might be worth going over the salary cap. However, their recent spiral and 22-26 record — good for the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference — proves how poorly this Pistons experiment is going.

A Bradley trade could help the Pistons shed salary. Three-and-D players always have value, and Bradley is still considered as one of the better ones in the league, even if his circumstances in Detroit haven’t treated him perfectly. If Bradley could be packaged with Jon Leuer — making $19 million the next two seasons — then they could have more flexibility this offseason. Of course, including a salary dump in any Bradley deal would reduce the return, something that Detroit may not be willing to do as they continue pushing for the playoffs, however futile that may be. (Detroit currently sits three games out of the No. 8 seed.)

Beyond that, Bradley is likely to walk away from Detroit this summer if they retain him, giving the Pistons massive incentive to deal him somewhere.

There are two obvious teams: The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The first team is in the market for, well, everything. They badly need defenders and shooters, and Bradley checks both boxes.

Oklahoma City, on the other hand, just lost Andre Roberson for the season. Roberson is renown for his poor shooting, but he was a sensational perimeter defender and a huge part of the Thunder’s smothering defense this season. He was a much more effective offensive player than most gave him credit for, too, excelling on cuts and put-backs.

The Thunder’s problem is their lack of assets. They have one young piece, Terrance Ferguson, that could be appealing to a team like Detroit. Beyond that, both their 2018 and 2020 first-round picks are outgoing, while they have little else on the roster that is both expendable and interesting.

Would the Wizards or the Bucks be interesting in adding Bradley? Likely no, and possibly yes, but there are a few other interesting fits for Bradley on the market.

There are both compelling reasons to deal him and desperate teams who need to add pieces. This will likely happen, barring a Pistons resurgence between now and the Feb. 8 trade deadline.