Veteran point guard Derrick Rose signed a two-year, $15 million contract with the Detroit Pistons last summer with the hope that he could help them fully dominate the Eastern Conference and contend for the 2020 NBA championship title. However, after realizing that they don’t have what it takes to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy, the team decided to take a different route and moved Andre Drummond and other veterans before the 2020 February trade deadline. With the Pistons likely heading into an inevitable rebuild, rumors have started to circulate around Rose and his future in the league .
In a recent article, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic discussed the Pistons’ plan in the 2020 offseason, including what they could possibly do with the former MVP’s expiring contract. If Rose is 100 percent healthy and proves that he could still be useful to a title contender, Edwards believes that they would trade him “for whatever assets it can get” this fall.
“I think the odds are in favor of Rose being traded, but that’s assuming he has a similar season to what he had this past year,” Edwards said, as quoted by Jake Rill of Bleacher Report . “… If he’s productive and looks as if he can still help a contender, my gut tells me Detroit will trade him for whatever assets it can get.”
If they finally consider undergoing a full-scale rebuild, trading Rose in the 2020 offseason would make a lot of sense for the Pistons. Instead of losing him in the summer of 2021 as an unrestricted free agent without getting anything in return, they could turn Rose’s expiring contract into a package that includes a young player or a future draft pick this fall. The veteran point guard may no longer be in his prime, but once he becomes officially available on the trading block, several contenders who are in dire need of a backcourt boost are expected to express a strong interest in adding him to their roster.
At 31, Rose remains a very reliable contributor on the offensive end of the floor. Also, in the past two years, the former MVP has shown a massive improvement with his three-point shooting skills. In 50 games he played this season, he averaged 18.1 points and 5.6 assists while shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Rose has already said on numerous occasions that he’s happy with his current team. However, at this point in his NBA career, he would undeniably be better off playing for a legitimate title contender than wasting his remaining years in the league mentoring young players on a rebuilding team.
