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The Detroit Pistons have been mentioned in too many rumors to keep track of, the most recent that they are looking to unload Marcus Sasser. Marc Stein and Jake Fischer (subscription) reported that the Dallas Mavericks have emerged as suitors for Sasser’s services. Sasser was the obvious choice to be moved after the Pistons traded up for Ebuka Okorie and exercised the team option on Daniss Jenkins.

LeBron James will not be playing for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, an announcement that immediately got the NBA’s attention. Shams Charania reported the news, saying LeBron would carry on his career but that the Lakers could “move on without him” as he’d be headed somewhere else. Before you get too excited, he’s not likely coming anywhere near Detroit, as it’s been widely speculated that the Warriors are making a move to bring both LeBron and Anthony Davis to the bay area.

The Detroit Pistons' big trade deadline splash was trading for Kevin Huerter, and they made that problematic move look worse after agreeing to a new three-year deal worth $27 million with the 6’6 wing. Huerter is known as a sharpshooter, but he has made just 32.4 percent of his last 716 3-point attempts. Detroit failed to address their shooting and playmaking needs in February, which ruined a shot at winning a title.

The Detroit Pistons have been mentioned in just about every trade rumor so far, and that was before their internal drama with Jalen Duren went public, so Trajan Langdon has been busy. With all of the commotion, the Pistons have only made depth moves so far, sending out Isaiah Stewart, moving up in the draft to take Ebuka Okorie, trading for Isaiah Joe and re-signing free agent Kevin Huerter.

As the official start of free agency gets closer, the Pistons still haven't gotten any commitment from their upcoming free agents on new contracts - including Tobias Harris. While many other free agents around the league have already agreed to new deals with their prior teams, Harris remains a wildcard and rumors about him potentially leaving Detroit are growing ever louder.

The Detroit Pistons have already traded center Isaiah Stewart, and now Jalen Duren may be next, as the All-NBA big man is reportedly unhappy with the offers he’s gotten so far. Until I see otherwise, I assume a lot of this Duren to Sacramento talk is just his agent using the media to drive up the price of their client. The Pistons are reportedly not close to the max deal Duren is seeking, so getting other teams involved could potentially get that contract on the table from someone.

The Portland Trail Blazers made one of the surprise moves of the offseason so far by trading for polarizing guard Ja Morant, a move that could have ripple effects that touch the Detroit Pistons. The Grizzlies were keen to give Morant away to anyone that would take him, so the Blazers bought low hoping he can regain the magic from early in his career.

The Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren negotiations hit a snag last night when his agent announced that the restricted free agent would be exploring sign and trade options with the Sacramento Kings. Sure. My first response to this was to laugh heartily, as threatening to leave a 60-win team to go to the Kings is like threatening to leave a Michelin starred restaurant to go to White Castle because the person paying for your meal balked at buying you a 4th dessert.

Just when we though that Jalen Duren was inching closer to signing an extension with the Pistons, we get reports that he wants to explore sign-and-trade options with the Kings and Lakers. This news seems devastating at first glance, but it could speak highly of the Pistons' front office in their negotiation efforts. Clearly Trajan Langdon and company are not willing to overpay Duren and compromise their future team-building after he fell well short of expectations in the playoffs.

It only took five days for the Detroit Pistons to have every reason to regret trading backup center Isaiah Stewart. Detroit sent Stewart to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for three future second-round draft picks, and many thus jumped to the conclusion that they were clearing space to re-sign Jalen Duren and maintain the flexibility to add another impact player.