The Detroit Pistons opted to make their title push without Jaden Ivey
After breaking his leg just before the mid-way point of the 2024-25 regular season, former Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey had a long road to recovery. Ivey’s path back to the court eventually required an extra pitstop when the dynamic guard underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at the start of his fourth season as a pro.
Upon his return, Ivey averaged 8.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, a far cry from the explosive breakout season the Purdue product had enjoyed a season prior. Ivey was lodged along the Pistons’ second unit as he worked to regain his form, but the Detroit squad developed into a team that did not fit what Ivey could offer at the present.
This season, Daniss Jenkins has emerged as the Pistons’ reliable backup point guard, which negated the hopes that Ivey could slot in as a secondary playmaker for Detroit to complement Cade Cunningham’s offensive talent. And since Ivey never returned to the scoring heights that secured his starting spot prior to his broken leg, the Pistons opted to trade the former top five draft pick to the Chicago Bulls as part of a three-team trade in exchange for Kevin Huerter, Dario Saric and a first-round pick swap with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
To some, the decision to trade Ivey was marred with criticism since the Pistons were offloading Ivey at the floor of his trade value rather than the peak, which is not ideal asset management. But before Detroit took on the New York Knicks on Friday night, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon spoke about his thought process regarding the deal to ship Ivey to a Central Division rival.
“We wish JI the best, he’s been great here,” Langdon said. “I think for us, it was just trying to find the right fit for us going forward that would give us a better chance to give JB [Bickerstaff] a little bit more optionality in terms of the lineups. We know we needed spacing, and we thought Kevin did that. When you look at the teams he’s been on and the way different teams play him, his gravity has been good and given his teammates more space to operate. So, we thought whether that’s playing with Cade or playing in non-Cade minutes, it gives us another option on the floor to score the ball or space it and make plays and I think he’s gotten better defensively as well. I think his size is going to be a good fit with our group.”
With Ivey’s departure from Detroit brought a new shooter to the Pistons’ organization, and a playoff-tested vet at that. Huerter, who has played in the Eastern Conference semi-finals with the Atlanta Hawks, is familiar with the pressure that comes along with postseason basketball. Ivey, on the other hand, never had the opportunity to take part in the playoffs with Detroit.
In his Pistons’ debut, Huerter was held scoreless in six minutes against the Washington Wizards, but the newest Detroit player fit right in during game two with eight points on four-for-six shooting from the field. In fact, Huerter scored his first bucket with the Pistons as the result of a slick cut to the basket off a two-man action with Paul Reed, which showcased the new acquisition’s play recognition and basketball acumen.
While the Jaden Ivey era ended sooner than some hoped for, the Pistons are crafting a lineup that can compete in May and June, and Langdon’s front office believes that Huerter can help the Pistons win games with his shooting ability during the pressure-filled moments of playoff basketball.
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