The Detroit Pistons may have parted ways with Jaden Ivey at a prudent time given his self-reported knee soreness
At the Trade Deadline two weeks ago, the Detroit Pistons were faced with a choice– swing for the fences to bring in an established secondary scorer with perimeter gravity or make a more reserved deal to adjust the role players surrounding Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren in the Motor City.
Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon opted to go with the latter route, prioritizing pragmatism to help patch what few holes existed regarding Detroit’s squad. As such, the Pistons agreed to move fourth-year guard Jaden Ivey to the Chicago Bulls as part of a three-team trade, and early returns seem to indicate that Detroit parted ways with the once-explosive slasher at the right time.
Last night, Ivey recorded the first DNP of his career after sitting out the Bulls’ 110-101 loss to the Toronto Raptors, and the former top five draft pick was asked to explain his thought process after falling out of Chicago’s rotation, albeit momentarily.
“I’m sure people can call it out that I’m not the same player as I used to be,” Ivey said after the game. “That’s why I’m not the JI I used to be. The old JI is dead. I’m alive in Christ. No matter what the basketball setting is, I’m born again in The Holy Spirit, and I’ve been saved by Jesus Christ. No matter how many DNPs I don’t get to play or no matter how many points I score, these things are a temporary thing.”
Last season, Ivey suffered a broken fibula on Jan. 1, 2025 that ended his season on the spot. After working through a summer of rehab, Ivey seemed ready to finally make his return and even featured for 14 minutes during the pre-season, but the Purdue product was forced to halt his return due to knee soreness.
In late October, Ivey underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee to address the discomfort he’d been feeling, and the Pistons waited just over a month for the former 17-point per game scorer to rejoin the lineup. That’s when Ivey’s future in Detroit began to raise questions since he struggled to reintegrate as the same speedy, playmaking combo guard with a dangerous outside shot that Pistons fans knew he could be.
So, the Pistons made a deal with the Bulls before the deadline to bring Kevin Huerter into the Motor City to help add another dimension to Detroit's perimeter shooting, but Ivey is going through a different type of adversity now in Chicago.
After facing the Raptors on Thursday, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was asked to explain the situation with Ivey in hopes of gaining clarity on why he received the first DNP of his career.
“I do think for Jaden coming back, seeing him early in his career in Detroit, coming back I think for him, in my opinion, he’s not moving like he once did,” Donovan said. “I know maybe he mentioned after the game that he was dealing with some soreness in his knee. I don’t know how much it’s affecting him. He was definitely available to play. Nothing’s kept him out with his knee. But today he wasn’t here. He’s getting checked out to see if everything’s okay. Like I said, he was available to play. It was a coach’s decision last night. I support Wes [Unseld Jr.] in that, but we tried to put the guys out there with all the minute restrictions that we thought would be best, and it happened to be that game Jaden was out. It could be another game and somebody else is out.”
Coincidentally, the Pistons next game on the docket is against the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night in the Windy City at 8 pm, so perhaps Detroit will have any opportunity to compete against their former player if Ivey returns from the treatment he received earlier today.
In a different timeline, perhaps Ivey’s tenure with the Pistons would have unfolded differently, but few would have predicted that his short time with the Bulls would have transpired this way either.
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