NBA Trade Deadline 2018: Grading Every Trade

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Detroit Pistons Receive: PF/C Blake Griffin, PF/C Brice Johnson, C Willie Reed

Los Angeles Clippers Receive: SG/SF Avery Bradley, SF/PF Tobias Harris, C Boban Marjanovic, 2018 first-round pick (top-four protection), 2019 second-round pick (via Cleveland, Houston, Orlando or Portland)

Grades

Pistons: C-

Coach-president Stan Van Gundy clearly made this move with his job security in mind. And for now: so far, so good.

The Pistons have rattled off five consecutive victories since the trade—the first of which came before Blake Griffin's debut—and are once again fixtures in the Eastern Conference playoff conversation. Concerns over how their two bigs, Griffin and Andre Drummond, will coexist have thus far proved pointless; they're outscoring opponents by almost 30 points per 100 possessions when this duo is on the floor.

Detroit's honeymoon won't last forever. Even if it somehow persists for the rest of this season, a playoff bid doesn't negate all of the long-term worries.

Griffin is playing out the first of a five-year, $171.2 million pact. Not only must the Pistons come to grips with him exercising a $39 million player option prior to 2021-22, at the age of 32, but pairing his cap hit with those from Drummond and Reggie Jackson restricts their capacity to fiddle with the depth chart—and avoid the luxury tax—through at least 2019-20.

No one will fault Detroit's logic, or financial obligations, if this core turns into a perennial 50-win candidate. But we don't yet know if the team has the requisite playmaking and shooting around Griffin and Drummond to make this work—a recent spurt of dominance notwithstanding.

Can the Pistons cobble together an above-average defense for an entire season with two non-switchy bigs in the middle? Will they be able to afford Stanley Johnson's next contract (extension-eligible this summer) if they hold onto him? Will the Drummond-Griffin partnership stand the test of playing with a higher-usage point guard upon Jackson's return from an ankle injury?

Teams shouldn't have to answer this many questions after acquiring a five-time All-Star who puts butts in the seats and, in the most ideal scenario, appreciably elevates their ceiling. But the Pistons do. And clogging up their already-stuffed financial pipeline without gaining a semblance of certainty counts, at best, as a gutsy dice roll.

Clippers: B+

The Clippers deserve praise for snagging Tobias Harris (still just 25), a possible lottery pick and some long-term cap relief for what eventually profiles as one of the NBA's worst contracts. Moving Griffin also allows them to begin a full-scale rebuild, without regard for placating an incumbent star.

About that: The Clippers apparently aren't angling for a teardown—not right now. They just gave a three-year, $24 million extension to 31-year-old Lou Williams, one of this season's most sought-after trade-deadline commodities.

Retaining an aging scorer who detracts from the value of your draft pick seems puzzling at first glance. But $8 million annually isn't that much money even in a penny pincher's market, and the deal includes a partial guarantee worth $1.5 million in the final season.

The Clippers can now have the chance to flip Williams later for more than they'd receive if he were an expiring contract. That aides their rebuild.

Of course, they still need to map out a concrete plan before we revel in their coup. Offloading Griffin won't mean as much if they opt to re-sign Avery Bradley and DeAndre Jordan (player option) and re-commit themselves to the same glass ceiling.

This trade reflects so favorably upon them not just because they've shed the massive deal of an oft-injured star battling against contemporary constructs he doesn't quite embody, but because they're supposed to be chasing something more than early playoff exits—something more than just good enough.

Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com or Basketball Reference and accurate leading into games on Feb. 7.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale) and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by B/R's Andrew Bailey.

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