Detroit Pistons trade rumors: Kings interested in Andre Drummond

Trade rumors are heating up just hours before the 2017 NBA Draft, including one involving the Detroit Pistons, Andre Drummond and the Sacramento Kings.

NBA Draft time is always good for getting some trade rumors and speculation going and draft day 2017 is not disappointing. Chatter has been mostly quiet on the Detroit Pistons front but Matt Dery brought us an interesting nugget today involving Andre Drummond and the Sacramento Kings.

While the Kings hold the fifth overall pick in tonight’s draft, Dery followed up later to add that talks have involved the Kings’ other first round pick (10th overall) and Arron Afflalo.

That alone won’t work as a trade because the salaries are so out of whack. About $9.5 million will have to be added coming back to the Pistons to balance out what they would be sending in Drummond. That can get done without a third team if Kosta Koufas was added to the deal. That would not only balance out the money, but also give the Pistons a center to backfill the spot vacated by Drummond.

But would adding Koufos to make the deal work even be attractive to the Pistons? It’s very possible that by trading Drummond for the tenth pick they would look to use that pick to replace Drummond while shedding his max contract.

And with the value in the deal for the Pistons centered on the tenth pick, is that enough return on a Drummond trade? He’s a lightning rod figure with fans, mostly because of his free throw shooting and resulting inability to be put on the floor in some key situations, but he’s still a young player and already one of the best rebounders in the game.

By trading Drummond for the tenth pick and whatever spare parts make the salaries match, it feels a lot like hitting the reset button than a deal that provides the Pistons with a return for giving up a productive, even if situationally limited, young big man.

Next: Tigers targeting Dodgers prospect

It’s all speculation for now but something to watch during the draft tonight. When the Kings make the pick at ten, will they be picking for themselves or for the Pistons? At the very least it adds some intrigue to the draft for Pistons fans a little earlier than their normally scheduled pick at 12 overall.