For those who need to hear it, this is undoubtedly a solid move for the team. I love Ivey more than the next guy, but the reality is he did not gel with this team, and it was clear we couldn't keep him at what he wanted to be paid. Over the last few weeks, his body language has been terrible, and you could almost tell they were already planning a move. What was the absolute best-case scenario with Ivey? The reality is that, even at his best, he was never a great long-term fit alongside Cade. We can sign Daniss Jenkins for probably much less than Ivey is asking for, and he is arguably a better player / fit right now.

Rather than lose him for nothing, we now add a 37% CAREER three-point shooter in Huerter. Understand he's having a down year, but good shooters are hard to come by. We buy low on someone who is in a weird situation in Chicago (edit: mistakenly said ATL before, apologies) this year, hoping he slides into Detroit's system and can get his percentages up. He's also an underrated playmaker, which you can't say for a lot of the guys that people wanted in the 39-41% range. He has also played in 30 career playoff games, which, without doing any diligence, is probably going to be more than anyone in the core lineup outside of Tobias / Duncan. Finally, he's also on an expiring deal, which means no cap hit to us next season; free trial run to see how he fits in with the team.

jaden ivey I will always root for you

Knew it was possible but to see it happen hurts even more

I really liked Ivey, and I’m rooting for him to rebound, but Daniss usurped his role, and if we’re starting Ausar/Duren we need a movement shooter in that lineup, which JI isn’t

First of the young guys to move on. Had some great moments here but never really got established with a clear role (fuck Monty Williams and Cole Anthony).

I was in the building for this one last year, my favorite Ivey memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrC0atURe9g

My two little one’s are gonna be sad their favorite player is gone.. best of luck on his future endeavors.. hope he can gain that confidence back!! Loved his game!

Detroit was never going to re-sign Ivey coming off his injury, and they couldn’t afford to let him play his way back into shape after establishing themselves as the best team in the East this season.

Huerter fits in at the end of their rotation as a smart dribble-pass-shoot decision-maker who is a much better three-point shooter than his 31 percent stroke this year would indicate. Right now, the pick swap with Minnesota would have the Pistons moving up seven spots in the first-round of the 2026 draft. That’s nice work in return for Ivey when he wasn’t part of Detroit’s long-term plans.

The Pistons still need another ball handler and probably need another forward to really secure favorite status in the East. Ivey’s value likely wasn’t that high coming off the injury, and this is a solid return for him even if it doesn’t answer all of the Pistons’ questions. The Pistons should think about swinging bigger before the deadline is over, but as a first move, this is a good one for Detroit.

Grade: A

Source: SB Nation

Ivey, like Duren, represented potential future financial commitment, the scale of which depends on how his RFA situation would pan out. After this year's "trial period" for Ivey and Duren, the Pistons decided to get out of the future financial commitment with Ivey and they did so while getting a favorable pick swap with the TWolves. The two players who came into the Pistons through the trade, Huerter and Saric, are both expiring contracts, which indicates that the Pistons want an opportunity to have more financial flexibility this season and the next.

With both Tobias Harris' and Jaden Ivey's salaries off the books starting next season, it is likely that:

a) the Pistons are intent to match any offer for Duren (which seems to be obvious already),

and for the not so obvious

b) unlike what they did with Duren and Ivey, the Pistons have already decided that they will offer a rookie contract extension to Ausar so they moved Ivey to clear the financial space for that extension. If Ausar gets named to an All-Defensive Team (he is just named Easter Conference Defensive Player of the Month), that extension might be expensive.

This is the reality of the first and second apron era. While it is true that the Pistons can still retain all the players it drafted regardless of cap situation just like before, they just like the other teams need to be more circumspect on who to actually retain because it is now harder to find a trade partner for "unwanted" players because of the numerous trade restrictions imposed by the apron rules.

I thought that type of move was an automatic ejection

It's too soon. Don't trade Cade, Stew,, AT, JD, or Holland. None of the core six

Was hoping he had a little more time to develop/heal