Pistons Predicted to Trade Jalen Duren to Lakers for Star Guard This Offseason

While the Pistons have been linked to many players thus far, including Naz Reid and Myles Turner, they could also look to upgrade their backcourt alongside Cunningham this summer.

With this in mind, Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley recently released a mock trade that would send Jalen Duren to the Los Angeles Lakers for a star guard.

In the trade, Buckley has the Pistons sending Duren, Simone Fontecchio and the No. 37 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft to the Lakers for Austin Reaves.

“Reaves is a good enough shooter to share the floor with Cunningham and a clever enough creator to keep the offense moving without him,” Buckley wrote. “The fact Reaves is a plus-shooter from distance should look especially appealing to Detroit, since there are non-shooters in its young core (Ausar Thompson, Ronald Holland II) and net-shredders among its free agents (Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr.).”

This would be a massive trade for both teams as the Lakers would finally acquire their replacement for Anthony Davis and upgrade their center position while the Pistons would add a much-needed outside shooter to their lineup.

Of course, the Lakers have shown no interest in trading Reaves but with The Athletic’s report that he turned down a four-year, $90 million max extension earlier in the week, they may make him available.

If that does end up happening, the Pistons would be a great fit as he would be a great scoring option for them next to Cunningham in the backcourt, though they would need to find a replacement for Duren this summer.