Troy Weaver's in-season NBA trades as Detroit Pistons GM don't inspire confidence

The Detroit Pistons are expected to be active ahead of Thursday's 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline 2024.

They again sit at the very bottom of the NBA standings with a 6-43 record, and looking to improve the talent on the roster without touching the young core of players assembled in recent years through the draft, according to Free Press' Pistons beat writer Omari Sankofa II.

The Pistons were one of the first teams to make a trade this season, flipping Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Livers and second-round picks in 2025 and 2026 to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala. The Jan. 14 deal, while small, helped the Pistons open more cap space for the coming summer, and added spacing due to the shooting gravity of the two big men. The Pistons were 3-36 at the time of the trade, and are 3-7 since.

While the deal helped the Pistons on offense and in the salary books, it is not expected to be the final move for a team that has woefully underachieved this season in Year 4 of the rebuild under general manager Troy Weaver.

The goal for the rest of this catastrophic season, just as it has been for the past three years, is to have growth from the young players to serve as a springboard for success in future seasons.

All eyes are on Weaver, who has made six in-season trades as GM. Weaver has made a deal on deadline day each year, and faces mounting pressure from owner Tom Gores, who promised big changes within the organization when speaking to the media in December.

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Here is a look at Weaver's track record with in-season deals for the Pistons.

(All statistics entering Monday)

Feb. 8, 2021: Derrick Rose trade

Dealt: Derrick Rose to New York Knicks.

Acquired: Dennis Smith Jr. and 2021 second-round draft pick (from Charlotte; Isaiah Livers was selected No. 42 overall).

Buzz: Weaver's first in-season deal came more than six weeks before the deadline, with Rose's expiring contract getting moved to a playoff contender. The Pistons were a league-worst 5-18 at the time. Smith (the No. 9 overall pick in 2017) played in 20 games (nine starts) with the Pistons, and averaged 7.3 points and 3.7 assists in 19.6 minutes per game. He signed with Portland in the offseason before moving to the Hornets for 2022-23. Smith, 26 and now with Brooklyn, has found a role as a defense-first rotation guard for the Nets, appearing in 32 games and averaging 7.2 points, four assists and 3.8 rebounds this season.

Rose helped the Knicks make the playoffs after the trade, averaging 14.9 points in 35 games, and re-signed with the Knicks that summer.

The draft pick which became Livers seemed to be the prize of the trade, but he is now with Washington after struggling to find success for Detroit this season. Livers, once considered to be part of the Pistons' core, dealt with injuries throughout his three seasons, appearing in 71 games during his first two years, before starting 2023-24 on the injury report. He made his debut this season in late November, but struggled in 23 Pistons games (5 points, 2.1 rebounds on 34.5% shooting and 28.6% from 3) before being traded to the Wizards. Livers has yet to appear in a game for the Wizards.

March 13, 2021: Svi Mykhailiuk for Hamidou Diallo

Dealt: Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and 2027 second-round pick (from Houston) to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Acquired: Hamidou Diallo.

Buzz: Weaver dealt Mykhailiuk to Oklahoma City in return for Diallo, who signed a two-year, $10.4 million deal after showing promise in 20 games with the Pistons (11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds). He shot 59.3% on 2s last season with just 21 3s attempted. Diallo has spent most of the season with Washington's G-League team, but picked up another 10-day contract with the Wizards in January and appeared in two games.

Mykhailiuk played 56 games with Toronto in 2021-22 and last season played 13 games for the Knicks, before finishing the season with Charlotte. Mykhailiuk, 26, is on the end of the bench for the Boston Celtics, and has appeared in 22 games in limited minutes.

March 25, 2021: Delon Wright for Cory Joseph

Dealt: Delon Wright to the Sacramento Kings.

Acquired: Cory Joseph, 2021 second-round pick (from Los Angeles Lakers; Luka Garza was later selected No. 52 overall) and 2024 second-round pick.

Buzz: This deal came overnight on deadline day. Wright was having a good season while playing nearly 30 minutes per game, but had a more expensive contract and more guaranteed money than Joseph for the following season. The Pistons ended up re-signing Joseph to a cheaper two-year deal, and he was a serviceable point guard between 2021-22 and 2022-23. The Warriors last summer signed Joseph to a one-year contract for this season.

The Kings ended up moving Wright to Atlanta the following summer, and a year later, he signed as a free agent with Washington. This season, Wright has appeared in 28 games for the Wizards in a reserve role, averaging 4.4 points and 2.8 assists per game.

Garza signed on a two-way contract but later earned a standard contract. He played in 32 games as a rookie and averaged 5.8 points and 3.1 rebounds over 12.2 minutes per game. After the season, Garza signed a two-way deal with Minnesota. Since he moved to the Twin Cities, Garza has played in 39 games over two seasons, including 11 so far this year, averaging 5.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in limited action.

Feb. 10, 2022: Marvin Bagley trade

Dealt: Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles to the Kings, 2023 second-round pick (less favorable of Cleveland/Golden State) and 2024 second-round pick (from Sacramento) to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Acquired: Marvin Bagley III.

Buzz: Weaver's long-rumored interest in Bagley finally came to fruition on deadline day in a trade involving four teams and seven players. Bagley was in his fourth season after being drafted No. 2 overall and gave the Pistons an athletic rim-runner down the stretch. He got himself paid with a three-year, $37.5 million deal from the Pistons, which did not work out.

Bagley over parts of three Pistons seasons did not improve his defense or outside shooting, an awkward fit in today's game, and fell behind James Wiseman for a stretch, picking up six inactives during his final seven games in Detroit. Weaver attached two second-round picks in the January's trade to add shooting with stretch bigs in Gallinari and Muscala, both on expiring contracts, and free up cap space for the future.

Feb. 9, 2023: Saddiq Bey for James Wiseman

Dealt: Saddiq Bey to the Hawks, Kevin Knox II to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Acquired: James Wiseman.

Buzz: Weaver made another swing for a player he liked in the pre-draft process, this time picking up another former No. 2 overall pick in Wiseman from the Warriors in a four-team trade. Bey, one of the first players drafted by Weaver in 2021, was sent to the Hawks, who provided the compensation to the Warriors in the form of two second-round picks, while also sending three second-round picks to the Trail Blazers, who moved Gary Payton II back to Golden State.

Wiseman was immediately placed in the big man rotation alongside Bagley and Jalen Duren, following a disappointing start to his career for the Warriors. Since the trade, Wiseman has appeared in 55 games, including 22 starts, averaging 8.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game with nearly double the turnovers (63) to assists (34). Wiseman, 22, initially started this season as the odd man out in the big man rotation behind Duren and Bagley, but started making more appearances after the first few weeks due to injury. Since the trade Jan. 14, Wiseman has appeared in four of nine possible games, and has found himself behind Muscala and Gallinari in the rotation.

Bey, 24, has started most of the season for the Hawks after playing the final 25 games of 2022-23 in Atlanta. In 48 games this season, Bey has made 36 starts on the wing and is averaging 12.9 points and 6.5 rebounds on 41.3% shooting from the field and a poor 30.3% shooting from 3-point range.

Knox was waived by the Trail Blazers before this season, and re-signed with the Pistons two weeks into the 2023-24 season as they dealt with frontcourt injuries. Knox, 24, has appeared in 31 games (11 starts), and is averaging 7.2 points and 2.4 rebounds while playing 18 minutes per game. He's shooting 33% on three 3-point attempts per game.

Jan. 14, 2024: Young for old

Dealt: Isaiah Livers, Marvin Bagley III, 2025 and 2026 second-round picks.

Acquired: Mike Muscala, Danilo Gallinari.

Buzz: As detailed, the Pistons have already made one trade this season in January when the team had three wins near the midseason point. The Pistons shed $4 million in salary with the deal and gained $12.5 million in 2024 cap space by getting off Bagley's contract for 2024-25. The 2026 second-rounder going to Washington is from either Minnesota, New York, New Orleans or Portland.

INSIDE THE DEAL: Pistons trade with Wizards 'first step' in charting franchise back on track

Bagley, 24, is averaging 15.5 points on 61% shooting and 8.4 rebounds in eight games with Washington as a backup center. Livers has not played.

Muscala and Gallinari have helped open up space in the offense with their ability to shoot. Muscala has appeared in eight games for the Pistons, averaging 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 12 minutes per game. Gallinari is averaging 10 points, two rebounds and two assists in 15.8 minutes per game in his five appearances.

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Next up: Kings

Matchup: Pistons (6-43) at Sacramento (29-19).

Tipoff: 10 p.m. Wednesday; Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California.

TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Troy Weaver's history of in-season NBA trades as Detroit Pistons GM