Andre Drummond’s name was floating around for weeks leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline. Detroit finally found a buyer for the 2x all star center. The Cleveland Cavaliers took the bait and sent Brandon Knight, John Henson, and a 2nd round draft pick to the Pistons for Drummond.
I read this trade alert when I got it from Bleacher Report and laughed out loud. One, I love when players get traded to Cleveland because no one wants to be there. Two, the Pistons clearly did not care about what they got back for Drummond; they just wanted him to not be on their team. Drummond is a phenomenal rebounder, super athletic, and a good shot blocker. The problem is, you can get a center with that skill set for a hell of a lot cheaper than Andre Drummond; it’s a consistent trend with teams and the center position.
This trade is simple guys, Drummond has a player option for 2020-2021 for $28.75 million and the Pistons were terrified he was going to opt in. Drummond would be dumb not to opt in to that money because I would be shocked if he got anywhere close to that in the open market. For the Cavs, he will be their starting center, probably be marked as their best player and they will see how he fits with their younger pieces. Cleveland is not really paying anyone now so if Drummond opts in to his option, it isn’t the end of the world for them.
Drummond immediately went to Twitter, obviously, claiming there is no loyalty in the NBA. It’s a business and the Pistons rectified their previously bad business decision.
