The Detroit Pistons are gearing up for the 2022-23 season by adding some 3-point shooting to their mix. Per multiple reports, the Utah Jazz have agreed to send Bojan Bogadnovic to Detroit for Saben Lee and Kelly Olynyk.
Utah receives:
• Saben Lee?
• Kelly Olynyk
Detroit receives:
• Bojan Bogdanovic
Bogdanovic adds a much-needed 3-point punch to the Pistons, who ranked 29th in the NBA last season in 3-point percentage (32.6%) despite finishing in the middle of the pack in 3-point attempts (16th). In three seasons with the Jazz (2020-22), Bogdanovic hit 39.7% of his 3-pointers and made 550 of them in that span. He hit 181 3-pointers last season, which would have ranked second on the Pistons behind Saddiq Bey (211 made 3-pointers).
Overall, the 33-year-old Bogdanovic averaged 18.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. However, he has seen his scoring average decline slightly each season after posting a career-best 20.2 ppg with Utah in 2019-20. Bogdanovic will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Detroit went 23-59 in 2021-22, finishing ahead of just Houston and Orlando at the bottom of the league standings, but has hope for the future thanks to a young core lead by second-year guard Cade Cunningham. He overcame an ankle injury that stunted the start of his career to average 17.4 points to lead all rookies, ranked second in his class with 5.6 assists a game and fifth with 5.5 rebounds over 64 games.
The Pistons dealt leading scorer Jerami Grant to Portland early in the offseason and drafted former Purdue star Jaden Ivey with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 draft. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Ivey can play point or shooting guard and averaged 17.3 points last season and made 36% of his 3-pointers. Detroit also acquired center Jalen Duren, the No. 13 overall pick, in a Draft-night trade that gives the team some additional size in the middle.
Bogdanovic will join a Detroit frontline rotation that includes former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III asw well as youngsters Isaiah Stewart and Bey. A third-year player, Bey averaged a career-best 16.1 ppg and set a Pistons single-season record for 3-pointers made. Stewart is a bruising third-year big man who averaged 8.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg and 1.1 bpg in 71 starts.
On the Utah side of things, this is another player added in a busy offseason for the Jazz. The team dealt All-Star center Rudy Gobert and guard Donovan Mitchell in separate blockbuster trades that brought back a bevy of young assets. Lee, a point guard who averaged 5.6 ppg and 2.9 apg in reserve duty last season, joins a guard corps that includes Collin Sexton, Talen Horton-Tucker, Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, Malik Beasley and others.
Olynyk is entering his 10th NBA season and his fourth NBA season in the last two seasons. He signed with Detroit as a free agent in 2021 and averaged 9.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 2.8 apg in mostly reserve duty for the Pistons. Olynyk is under contract for the next two seasons, but his 2023-24 deal is not fully guaranteed. He is part of a Jazz frontcourt that has also been remade and includes names such as Jarred Vanderbilt, Lauri Markkanen, Udoka Azubuike and rookie Walker Kessler.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
