4 NBA Trade Ideas: A Sneaky Derozan Trade and a Move to Send OKC All-in – Bleacher Report

DeMar DeRozan for Joe Harris, Killian Hayes and a top-five protected 2026 first-round pick

For a team on the verge of breaking the all-time record for the NBA’s longest losing streak, the Detroit Pistons should probably be thinking about moving veterans like Bojan Bogdanović for players and/or picks who better fit a rebuilding timeline.

Instead, they may be in the market for more vets.

“One player I’m hearing that the Pistons are interested in, as is the rest of the league, is Toronto’s OG Anunoby,” James L. Edwards III wrote for The Athletic. “Tobias Harris, who is an unrestricted free agent after this season, is another name the Pistons could target sooner rather than later if he becomes available before the NBA’s February trade deadline.”

If, indeed, that’s the direction Detroit chooses to go, Chicago Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan is another option for someone who might be able to add stability and share some of the knowledge gained through experience with the Pistons’ young roster.

He wouldn’t solve the team’s massive issue with outside shooting, but his ability to handle the ball and engineer individual possessions would take some pressure off Cade Cunningham, who’s been a turnover machine this season.

At least offensively, lineups with those two and Bogdanović could present some hypothetical issues for opposing defenses.

Of course, an already-rebuilding team surrendering a pick for a 34-year-old, non-three-point shooter who’s only had a positive impact on his team’s point differential twice in his career may be a tough pill to swallow for Pistons fans. I could probably be talked into expanding the protection on that pick.

But it’s outgoing the year after the Cooper Flagg draft, and there’s always a talent squeeze on young teams like this. You can’t pick in the lottery every year for as long as Detroit has (and probably will) and keep everyone.

The Pistons wouldn’t be under the illusion that a move like this would suddenly make them a play-in contender, but DeRozan has been on a lot of winning teams in his career. In the short term, he can at least help this young core avoid getting too used to losing.

For the Bulls, despite the fact that they’ve played significantly better since Zach LaVine left the rotation with an injury, it remains abundantly clear that this group is nowhere near contention. Best-case scenario: it gets its act together enough to finish top-10 in the East, wins a couple play-in games and gets squashed in the first round.

Instead of embracing that, Chicago needs get whatever it can for DeRozan, Nikola Vučević and/or LaVine. And given DeRozan’s aforementioned shortcomings, if another team is willing to sacrifice a first-round pick for him, even a protected one, the Bulls would have to seriously consider moving him.

That alone probably makes this deal worth it, but it also gives Chicago a flier on 22-year-old playmaker and defender Killian Hayes. Joe Harris, of course, is mostly here as salary-filler, but re-routing him to another team in need of shooting wouldn’t be out of the question.