Pistons Rumors: Raptors' Fred VanVleet Expected to Be Targeted in Free Agency
The Detroit Pistons have reportedly locked in on Fred VanVleet as a target in July's free-agency period.
James Edwards III of The Athletic reported Tuesday that the Pistons view VanVleet as someone who can shore up their struggling guard rotation. The Pistons front office is currently deciding whether to begin a full-scale rebuild or field a competitive roster in 2020-21; VanVleet would fit with the latter way of thinking.
The Raptors point guard is in the midst of a career season, averaging 18.0 points, 7.0 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game while helping keep Toronto relevant in the East post-Kawhi Leonard. His breakout as a scorer and ball distributor has helped mitigate the loss of Leonard and given the Raptors an interesting one-two wrinkle with VanVleet and Kyle Lowry at the guard spots.
The idea of him being enough of a difference-maker to push these Pistons into relevance seems like a stretch.
Andre Drummond can become an unrestricted free agent this summer by declining his 2020-21 player option, and Detroit is already entertaining the idea of moving him. Blake Griffin underwent knee surgery Tuesday and has no timetable for a return. Nor does it appear likely Griffin will be 100 percent healthy in the immediate future.
Re-signing Drummond, hoping Griffin is healthy next season and adding VanVleet might be enough to make the Pistons a playoff team, but that's not the recipe for a contender. Detroit could probably extract some value for Drummond now on the trade market and showcase Griffin next season for a trade as part of a rebuild.
The Pistons are a franchise famously averse to full-fledged tanking. They have made the playoffs just twice in the past 10 seasons but haven't finished any lower than 12th in the Eastern Conference during that time frame. The franchise has not had a pick higher than No. 7 since Darko Milicic in 2003.
VanVleet will be 26 in February, so odds are he'll be pushing 30 and nearing free agency by the time the Pistons are relevant again.
