Pistons Land No. 5 in 2023 NBA Draft

The 2023 NBA Draft Combine was completed on Thursday, and it is now time to look ahead to the NBA Draft. 

It is no secret that multiple teams tanked last year, hoping to land the No. 1 pick so they could snag Victor Wembanyama. Well, on Tuesday the San Antonio Spurs won that battle, and it is presumed they will go with 7-foot-4 Wembanyama.

The Detroit Pistons were hoping to be in the Spurs’ position after placing as the league’s worst team in the NBA, record-wise, last year. Even if that weren’t going to happen, then the Pistons would have settled for a top-3 pick, but landing the No. 5 pick is not what they had prepared for.

The Pistons now must reconsider their draft route and think about what they will do with their No. 5 pick.

ESPN Draft analysts Bobby Marks and Jonathan Givony spoke with the press on Friday and provided their thoughts on what will happen next with the 2023 NBA Draft.

Pick Your Head Up

Pistons fans were dishing out all of their prayers on Tuesday in hopes they could land the No. 1 pick after watching their team only win 17 games this past season.

However, fans were only delivered with disappointing news. The Pistons landed the fifth pick.

Although the fifth pick is a Lottery Pick, a lot of the players in the range aren’t exactly what the Pistons were looking for. However, General Manager Troy Weaver did express that he liked some of the players in the range.

Givony mentioned that many Pistons representatives “were pretty excited about the caliber of player that’s gonna be available to them at five,” and he mentioned players like Cam Whitmore, Anthony Black and the Thompson twins Amen and Ausar.

All of these mentioned players are solid picks that can provide some solid offense and defense for the Pistons. The only issue is that they are all guards and wings, which isn’t exactly what the Pistons need at this moment. However, they are players that can and will contribute.

There Are Other Options

Choosing someone at No. 5 is not the only option for the Pistons, they can do something similar to what many believe will happen in Portland. Trade away the pick for a player that is better equipped to contribute now.

The Pistons are not exactly in the same position as the Trail Blazers, but they can exercise the same idea.

Weaver mentioned that the franchise is not opposed to trading away the pick if it can help, “if it’s going to help us move forward, we’ll entertain anything. We’re excited about this draft pool, but we’ll try to move the team forward any way we can.”

Many early proposals consist of trading away this year’s pick and a player in exchange for a first-round pick next year and a bigger guard or wing that can contribute now.

Exciting Team

Either way, the Pistons will have a lot to look forward to in these upcoming years with their young roster continuing to grow and prosper.

The young backcourt duo of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey makes Detroit a good landing spot for Head coaches after Dwyane Casey has stepped down from coaching operations.

The Pistons may not have exactly landed where they wanted to be, but they are still in an “exciting” position as it stands. Pistons fans should buckle up as Detroit looks to navigate this next month.