The Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards completed a multi-player swap on Sunday as the two struggling squads look to re-tool their rosters ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
Detroit will send forwards Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Livers, alongside two future 2nd round draft picks to Washington in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala. The deal, which will free up money for Detroit, essentially amounts to a “picks for salary” style trade, with the Wizards gaining an additional 2nd rounder in 2025 and 2026.
All other players involved are on expiring contracts, and don’t figure to play long term roles in either club’s future. Detroit (3-36) and Washington (7-31) are the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference standings at the moment, and figure to be in the hunt fo the 1st overall draft pick at season’s end.
Bagley, 24, was famously the 2nd overall draft pick in 2018, being selected ahead of players such as Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson Jr., Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Tempe, AZ native averaged 21pts/1.5ast/11.1reb per game for the Duke Blue Devils in 2017-18, and was widely regarded as a top end talent at the time.
However, many an eyebrow was raised when the Sacramento Kings opted for him over Doncic on draft day, as the Slovenian has gone on to earn 4x All-NBA 1st team selections, where as Bagley will now be on his 3rd NBA team in 6 years.
Across 234 career appearances, the 6’10” power forward has averaged 12.9pts/6.9reb/0.9ast per game, as he’s struggled to carve out a full time role for himself at the NBA level. With his contract now off the books, Detroit has a projected $64M in cap space to go out and acquire some impact free agents to turn their fortunes around in the Motor City.
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