NBA News: Detroit Pistons Buyout Richard Hamilton to End Epic Fall from Grace

The Detroit Pistons have finally pulled the plug on shooting guard Richard Hamilton, as they have reportedly bought out the remainder of his two-year contract with the team.

Hamilton has been a mainstay for the Pistons ever since coming over to the team in a trade that saw Pistons general manager Joe Dumars send Jerry Stackhouse, Brain Cardinal and Ratko Varda to Washington in return for Hamilton and Hubert Davis.

At the time it was an extremely bold move, considering that Stackhouse was the Pistons' star, and Hamilton was still a relatively unproven commodity in the NBA.

The risk payed off and more, as Hamilton very quickly became a hero in Detroit.

Pistons fans watched as he made three consecutive All-Star games, became the Pistons all-time leading playoff scorer, surpassing Pistons great Isiah Thomas and torched the NBA with his non-stop motor, beautiful screen-curls, and his silky smooth shot that found the bottom more times than not.

Hamilton's greatest contribution to Detroit was the 2004 NBA championship, though, as he was an integral part in the Pistons world championship starting lineup along with Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace.

The "masked man" looked well on his way to becoming one of the most important and cherished figures in Detroit sports history, but then it all went sour.

The first stumble for Hamilton came when the Pistons traded away team leader, NBA Finals MVP and his good friend Chauncey Billups, to the Denver Nuggets for talented but controversial guard Allen Iverson.

It seemed as if Iverson and Hamilton had a hard time co-existing, as one of them had to undoubtedly come off the bench in order to keep point guard Rodney Stuckey on the floor.

Hamilton came off the bench, which apparently wasn't a popular move with him or other team veterans, and when he was eventually placed back in the starting lineup, Iverson ended up leaving the team after just three games of coming off the bench.

Hamilton's frustration was evident, and he even went as far to say that then-head coach Michael Curry had lied to him about his role with the team. When Curry was fired, many people saw Hamilton as the primary catalyst of that decision.

For a fanbase that had grown used to team play and basketball excellence, this was a turn for the worse.

Unfortunately, it didn't get any better under new coach John Kuester from 2009 to 2011.

The Pistons went 57-107 and missed the playoffs two years in a row under Kuester, and keep in mind this is after getting in for the past eight years straight, with two championship appearances and one championship trophy.

In time, perhaps because of the losing or perhaps because of his playing time, an unhappy Hamilton began to tune out Kuester and the Pistons.

His last year with the Pistons will go down as his worst, as it saw a horrible record, discontent with the organization and even a player revolt that many fans felt he was responsible for.

At one point, losing Richard Hamilton would have been horrible news for Pistons fans, but now I dare say it will be met with happiness.

Moving forward under new head coach Lawrence Frank, things are obviously going to be different for the Pistons, and now the young core doesn't have to worry about a bitter veteran causing trouble and trying way to hard to hold on to his glory days.

Getting rid of Hamilton also makes sense from a basketball standpoint, as it allows the Pistons to move former point guard Stuckey to shooting guard, let rookie Brandon Knight take over the point position and will also clear up playing time for Ben Gordon.

Hamilton went from a hero, to a distraction and ended up a problem in what will go down as one of the bigger falls from grace in Detroit sports history.

But now he's gone, and none of that matters.

The Detroit Pistons are going to be much better off without him.