Given the high turnover and fast pace of the NBA’s 82-game regular season schedule, it’s important for players to keep a forward-focused approach, and new Pistons wing Kevin Huerter received a reminder of that importance over the Trade Deadline. 

As part of a three-team trade featuring the Pistons, Bulls and Timberwolves, Huerter was dealt from Chicago to their Central Division rivals in Detroit. At the time of the trade, Huerter was in Milwaukee preparing for a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he was tipped off shortly after the trade was finalized that his future would look a little bit different.

“First reaction, I was excited,” Huerter said after the Pistons’ 126-117 loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday night. “I got a call from Billy Donovan, the coach, I was about to take my pre-game nap. We had shoot-around and got back to the hotel. My agent hadn’t heard anything leading up to that day, so I wasn’t really expecting anything in that moment. I thought coach was calling me to see if I was playing that night because I hadn’t played the night before and he let me know that I had been traded.”

From that point, Huerter had to scramble to pack his belongings before joining the Pistons for his first practice with the team in Detroit on Wednesday. Huerter got a few shots up with his new squad, but the new acquisition was still listed as questionable while the trade was pending, but he received the green light to suit up for his Pistons debut several hours before Detroit’s 7 pm tip-off against the Wizards. 

For Huerter, Thursday night represented a debut that was many years in the making after the Pistons acted as a significant influence in his basketball fandom during childhood. 

“Back when you’re growing up as a kid, whatever team is on TV, those are kind of the ones you gravitate towards,” Huerter said. “So, one of my Little Tikes basketball hoop playroom, like one of the first basketballs I had was a Detroit Pistons basketball. Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, [Tayshaun] Prince, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, like that whole team was one of my favorite teams along with the Miami Heat. I’ve given the D-Wade story, so I’ve always liked the Pistons and always had their basketball, even when I was young.”

So, when Huerter took the court for the Pistons for the first time, the playoff-proven sharpshooter did his best to contribute however he could. Though he only received six minutes of action in the squad’s nine-point loss, Huerter looked explosive as he cut off-ball in the half-court offense, but he missed his only two shot attempts of the night. On defense, Huerter dug in for a gritty steal to cause a turnover for the Pistons in the first half, then shortly thereafter he procured an extra possession with a heady deflection off a Wizards’ player before the ball matriculated out of bounds. 

To be certain, Thursday night’s showing did not begin to scratch the surface of what Huerter can provide for the Eastern Conference’s top team. Since the Pistons rank No. 20 in three-point shooting percentage, Huerter will immediately elevate the team’s perimeter gravity and outside threat, which will create a trickle-down effect of unclogging passing lanes for Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren as a result. 

“I think it’ll just take time,” Huerter said. “I’ve got to find my way. This team has obviously had a lot of different things go right for them this year, and I just told JB to let me find the way that I can fit in and the team doesn’t have to do anything different. With their identity, it’s up to me to fit into that.”

This season, Huerter has started 11 out of 44 games for the Bulls while averaging 10.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while in Chicago, but the eight-year vet was not utilized in a way that allowed for his greatest skill to flourish. As a career 37% shooter from behind the arc, Huerter is particularly dangerous in the pick and roll, through dribble hand-offs or when operating as a catch-and-shoot ace. 

In terms of what he expects to contribute to an already well-oiled machine, Huerter spoke about how his skill set meshes with the Pistons. 

“Obviously shot making, outside shooting,” Huerter said. “This team is not fun to play against. I remember playing against them in Chicago earlier this year, really physical games. I see a lot of defenders in this room. Their identity is to be in your face and physicality on defense, and I think I have to do that more and obviously on the offensive end find my shots.”

Against the Wizards, Huerter’s shot-making ability could have come in handy as the Pistons finished the game with an unimpressive 27% mark from downtown. The Wizards, on the other hand, drilled nine more shots from behind the arc en route to a 44% clip from long-range in what was a nine-point defeat for Detroit. 

In the future once Huerter is acclimated to the Pistons, the versatile sharpshooter could very likely be the difference in games like last night, but Detroit was also uniquely shorthanded. Pistons forward Tobias Harris was ruled out prior to tip-off with a hip injury, and All-Star center Jalen Duren left the contest at halftime with knee soreness, so those issues only compounded the fact that Daniss Jenkins was unavailable due to a G-League designation. 

All together, those elements spelled a perfect storm of bad luck for a Pistons’ team that is much better than their performance showed against the Wizards. 

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