When the trade deadline rolls around at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon, don't expect to see the Pistons popping up on any breaking news bottom lines. Various sources, including The Detroit News, are reporting that the Pistons will most likely stand pat at the deadline:
The Pistons are unwilling to trade Tayshaun Prince for just anything, with his contract expiring after this season. In the team's current state, he's more valuable to the Pistons than any other contender.
That said, the scene shifts to the player whose locker is next to Prince's: Richard Hamilton. There's a belief Hamilton is untradeable. He's not. Teams, however, don't want to give up valuable assets (expiring contracts, draft picks) for an aging, moody player whose production is at a career low.
The Pistons can't take on bad or long contracts, either, so it hampers what they can pull off. ... Plus, the impending sale of the franchise has movement on hold. Pistons president Joe Dumars said he's working the phones, presumably looking for something to jump start the process of bringing the Pistons back to respectability.
The Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams trades drastically changed the landscape of the NBA in a mere 36 hours, so there could be some trade venues that opened up that didn't exist for Dumars and the Pistons beforehand. However, with the restrictions on what types of deals he's allowed to make and his two biggest trading chips playing poorly and not playing, respectively, it'd be a surprise to see the Pistons make anything happen in the next 14 hours. Stay tuned, though.