The Detroit Pistons agreed to trade veteran guard Caris LeVert and two second-round picks to the Milwaukee Bucks. Detroit gets veterans Taurean Prince and Gary Harris in return.
All three players are on expiring contracts. The swap immediately clears about $7 million in cap space for Detroit and generates a trade exception. The Pistons won 60 games last season and secured the Eastern Conference’s top seed. Now they are aggressively shedding secondary salaries.
The front office is operating under the highly punitive luxury tax aprons of the new NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. Detroit needs maximum financial flexibility to offer 22-year-old center Jalen Duren a lucrative multi-year extension. Stripping LeVert’s remaining $14.8 million salary off the books makes that legally viable without crushing roster restrictions.
Milwaukee gets a proven scorer to patch holes in a newly empty depth chart. The Bucks are desperately retooling after dealing two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat. LeVert, 31, averaged 7.4 points over 60 games in Detroit after signing his initial two-year, $29 million deal. Prince and Harris give the Pistons movable assets for the upcoming trade deadline.