A rumored Ricky Rubio for Reggie Jackson trade doesn’t make sense for either team

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Detroit Pistons could be swapping their starting point guards, ESPN reported on Friday. While the deal isn’t considered imminent, the two sides have discussed a trade centered around Ricky Rubio and Reggie Jackson this week, well in advance of the league’s Feb. 23 trade deadline.

The Timberwolves have been looking to move Rubio for a while, and they are reportedly willing to include young wing Shabazz Muhammad in the deal.

Rubio is the pass-first point guard who Detroit may feel it needs. Jackson missed the first quarter of the season, with the Pistons going 11-10 in his absence. Since returning, Detroit is only 9-14 on the season, a disappointment for a team expecting to make the playoffs again this year.

Jackson’s numbers are down across the board in his 23 games played, averaging fewer points, rebounds and assists than last year. Detroit has a bottom-10 offense this year, but Stan Van Gundy may believe Rubio’s passing — even as the Spanish point guard is shooting 37 percent from the field so far — could unlock more from the team’s other offensive weapons. The Pistons are set up as a classic pick-and-roll styled attack, with Andre Drummond setting screens and Detroit putting shooters all around him and whoever has the ball.

Still, that’s a lot of assumptions. Given Rubio’s terrible shooting this season, he could easily be a negative. Jackson has struggled a bit, but he’s still relatively fresh off an injury and catching his stride. Maybe Detroit has seen enough from Jackson that it’s ready to move on, put backup Ish Smith into a more prominent role, and throw Rubio out there. But even then, it feels like there are better trades to be had — and the potential inclusion of Muhammad isn’t enough to make a difference.

It doesn’t?

Jackson is a better offensive player than Rubio, so the team upgrades there. However, he’s worse as a defender on a team that has a bottom-10 defense (and above-average offense). The reason Minnesota has been trying to move Rubio is that it believes Kris Dunn, its top draft pick last year, is the team’s future at point guard. Even if the Timberwolves did change their mind about that, their high lottery selection come June should give them several great point guard options to choose from.

However, Rubio has two years left on his contract while Jackson has three. Jackson has come off the bench before in Oklahoma City, but it’s unclear how happy he would be doing that again after grabbing a starting role with Detroit. If the idea of any Rubio trade is to carve out a path for Dunn, then this doesn’t seem to be the right one. It’s possible the Timberwolves think they can swap Jackson again this summer, but that’s relying on a lot of moving parts.

Jackson would make the Timberwolves a better team offensively, but they have three players basically averaging 20 points in Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Zach LaVine. That doesn’t really mesh with Jackson, who constantly needs the ball in his hands to bring out his best. The Timberwolves are already the No. 13 offense in the league, so even if they were to get a little better in that category with Jackson thrown into the mix, it’s hard to see how that would truly improve them when defense is the larger issue.

It seems likely that Ricky Rubio will be traded before the deadline. We’ll give that an 8/10 likelihood.

This deal, however, just doesn’t make enough sense for either side. That doesn’t always stop general managers, but for now, let’s say there’s a 3/10 likelihood.