In the NBA, there's generally a decent amount of player movement from year to year. Trades and free agency are obviously both factors in that, and we often see a player leave their team in free agency, or get traded by their team. Sometimes, there can be a lot of roster turnover over the course of just one offseason.
It seems as though that was the case for the Detroit Pistons. Killian Hayes, who was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, is now the longest-tenured Piston on the roster after Jahlil Okafor and Sekou Doumbouya got traded to the Brooklyn Nets. There's no question that the franchise is going through a full-scale rebuild, and Killian Hayes being the longest-tenured Piston signifies their goals for the future.
The Detroit Pistons had the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and they went with the widely acclaimed Cade Cunningham as their pick. Cunningham showed some promising signs during the Summer League, and he'll get plenty of playing time during his first season. The Pistons also have Jerami Grant, who took a jump last season, averaging 22.3 PPG and 4.6 RPG as the starting SF on the team. There's a solid young core down there in Detroit, and they could be a problem for the league in a few years.
It remains to be seen how the Detroit Pistons will do next season, and there are certainly many who expect the team to continue being a lottery team. Hopefully, the arrival of Cade Cunnigham can speed up their rebuild though, and he's certainly gotten praise for his leadership already. An improvement from Killian Hayes would certainly help the team as well, and perhaps he'll be able to show us some new things next season and contribute to winning.
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