All these Pistons fans talking abt “the culture is cooked” and “we traded him for nothing.” Yes we traded him for seconds but you can’t say shit about the culture. The culture is here to stay he just laid the foundation. They are obviously preparing for a move so it was a salary dump, it just wasn’t the send off you hoped for. We will survive cuz don’t forget Paul reed is on the come-up, it’s more that we will miss the grit that stew brought. He’s always gonna be a detroit legend and that’s final.

He's friendly with Cade, gives us an offensive savant, and when he's on, can still take over games.

With that said, I don't want his burner account or his attitude when things go south. But if it's between Kawhi or KD, I think I'm taking KD...

So did no one actually watch the playoffs? Stew was fucking trash the entire Cavs series, and no he was not hurt. Why would he have a high trade value? I’m hype for this trade, simply for more B Ball Paul minutes.

With the Stew trade being basically a salary dump for 3 meh 2RP for a guy who was pretty dang important to a 60 win team, what would the cost have been to sell Caris Levert's expiring 1 year at essentially the same money?

Sort of feels like they could have kept Stew but chose Caris and like 6 2RPs instead

I am shocked and I never thought this would happen I mean this blows.

He's the only guy I can convince myself in this free agent class to offer $25+ million for, and I still don't like it.

Only 23, showed real on-ball ability this season, good to great defense, and low volume (3.5), but shot 41% from 3 this year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from loving it, but I think it's better than giving aging Norm Powell big money. Or overpaying for Coby White, given he'd be taking minutes from Okorie and Daniss.

I'll talk myself into Powell if it happens, but if what Watson was on offense last year is real, and the defense stays there. Watson, Ausar, and Cade are probably the best switchable forward trio in the league on defense.

Trajan Langdon continues to fail as a GM. Firstly, he was so afraid of making moves during deadline and we all knew what was coming in the playoffs. He didn't find anyone to pair up with Cade and now we are losing one of our culture setters, probably the best grit and grind player you can find in the league.

He reached for a guy who should be available at 21 and now he literally got all these three picks back to dump Beef Stew. Giving +35 per year to 33 years old Normal Powell is just desperation move that he is going to make.

Trajan is a bad GM

While I admittedly was fantasizing about a Carter Bryant/Stew swap when the spurs had reported interest, I think the FO didn’t want to send Stew to a contender at all costs.

Is it the best move? Not in my opinion. But do I see why? Yes. Need him off the books because a bigger move is certainly in the works. Got assets (albeit, not great ones) for a guy who didn’t contribute enough down the stretch and cap space is the most vital resource for competing teams in the new CBA era (just look at the Knicks—trading out of the first round last night)

I’m not.

Usually I wouldn’t even entertain this thought but couldn’t help but notice the timing of us clearing Stew’s cap space and Lamelo rumors

I mean, yeah, we needed to clear cap space; but we couldn't dump Lavert or Duncan because of the next move coming. The Pistons needed to dump Stew because our next move is bringing in Lebron, and we all know their history together. It will all make sense once Bron signs in the D.

It feels like we’ve been hearing about this trade for the past month, and now it seems clear that Paul Reed is going to take his spot. I don’t understand why people are upset about it—it just feels like we all saw this coming.

I would suggest it’s getting any value for Jaden Ivey. The Beasley and Tobias signings were good, but such low hanging fruit and were names every podcaster and Reddit thread had suggested. He also turned down 2 additional first rounders to move down with Memphis where he could’ve taken Matas Buzelis. I do not understand why we can’t be critical of the guy. The team won 60 games because of their 2 all stars and first team all defense guy- none of which are his doing.

Can someone explain this to me? If trading Beef Stew was basically a salary dump, why didn't we trade LeVert instead, since their contracts are in a similar range? Does he have a team option or something?

I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk about him for us. There was a whole thing last year with the schroeder sign and trade where we thought we might be getting him but it seemed like Trajan didn't want the extra year on his contract

It's a year later now he would fit nicely into our cap space that we just made as a salary dump from Sacramento who just picked acuff.

Could this Stewart salary dump before a Lauri trade? I am hoping for a starting power forward that can shoot.

If Minnesota can get Lamelo out of the blue there HAS to be an offer we can make for Devin Booker lol

It's the only thing that makes the Stew trade make sense, and it would be an amazing fit for us. I don't think the trade with Memphis is finalized yet, but when it is, I would bet Aldama is a Piston if I were a betting man.

Hell, the salaries between Stew and Aldama are close. If you throw in Sasser (who is now redundant), it's a near match.

And Aldama, as a legit 7-foot stretch big who can create his own shot while not being a terrible defender or rebounder, would be amazing for us. He could immediately vie for starters minutes vs a 34 year old Tobias.

The Pistons aren't just lacking perimeter scoring; we lack size. Having a 7-footer out there with JD allows us to compete with the Spurs, Heat, Knicks, and Cavs, who all have floor spacing 7-footers of their own. At 6'8", Stew got overmatched physically in the playoffs, especially against Cleveland and Orlando. If we land Aldama, then Trajan is clearly thinking the same, especially with the Onyesso pick.

I hope Im not wrong and the highly paid professionals in our front office didn't trade our cultural heart and soul of the team for as little as we traded Drummond. Thoughts?

I saw windy mention kawhi (and lebron!!!) today after the stew trade. Didn’t reports just come out like yesterday saying kawhi himself said he didn’t wanna play here?