Jack Maloney of CBS Sports is urging the Detroit Pistons to pursue a trade for New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III – a move that would inject elite floor-spacing around Cade Cunningham and address the specific playoff weakness that ended Detroit’s season.
The Pistons were the Eastern Conference‘s top seed in 2025-26, blew a 2-0 lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round, and watched Cunningham turn into a one-man show at the worst possible time. Adding a secondary creator who can catch, shoot, and generate his own offense is not an optional upgrade – it is the defining offseason question in Detroit.
Trey Murphy’s Value Roots From His Insane Stats
Trey Murphy III, 25, averaged 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists last season for New Orleans, shooting 37.9% from three and a scorching 42.6% on catch-and-shoot attempts. Those catch-and-shoot numbers are not a small detail – that is elite territory for a player who also has the size and creation ability to operate as a secondary ball-handler. Murphy has appeared in 317 games across five seasons with the Pelicans, posting a career average of 15.4 points on 38.2% from deep, making last season’s leap feel like a breakout that has staying power rather than noise.
The Pistons already signaled a win-now posture at the 2025-26 deadline, trading Jaden Ivey in a three-team deal to acquire Kevin Huerter and Dario Šarić – a bet on spacing and veteran experience around Cunningham. Murphy would be a dramatically more expensive, dramatically more impactful version of that same strategic philosophy. Detroit’s cap sheet, shaped by the earlier Jerami Grant trade and a roster built largely on rookie-scale deals, gives Trajan Langdon the financial flexibility to absorb a contract in Murphy’s range without triggering the most punitive CBA thresholds.
The CBS Sports Case for the Trade
“Adding more shooting and scoring to take some of the offensive burden off Cade Cunningham’s shoulders should be the Pistons’ top priority.”
Maloney described Murphy as “a big wing who can space the floor as an elite catch-and-shoot threat but can also create some of his own offense” – which is a precise description of what Detroit’s playoff runs were missing. Cunningham is a two-time All-Star playing at a high level, but crunch-time isolation offense is a flawed playoff model against elite defenses. The Pistons need a second option who defenses cannot ignore, and the Murphy-to-Detroit trade concept has been circulating in Detroit analysis circles well before this latest CBS Sports recommendation.
Why It May Not Happen
The Pelicans declined to move Murphy at the 2026 trade deadline despite heavy rumor-mill chatter – which signals either a high asking price, genuine belief in a New Orleans rebuild around him, or both. Detroit is also far from the only team with interest, and the Lakers are among the franchises tracking Murphy’s trade price from New Orleans, meaning the Pistons will need to outbid a competitive field. The front office familiarity angle – Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver are former Detroit executives now in New Orleans, while Langdon came from the Pelicans – cuts both ways and does not automatically create a pipeline advantage.
The probability framing here sits around 35/65 that Murphy lands in Detroit specifically, given the competition and New Orleans’s reluctance to move him in-season. This is not a deal that looks inevitable – it looks like the right deal that will require real asset consolidation to close. Detroit has the flexibility; the question is whether Langdon has the appetite to spend it on Murphy specifically or hold for a larger swing, as the Pistons have been connected to multiple high-impact targets this offseason.
What Detroit Bettors and Fantasy Managers Should Watch
For bettors pricing Detroit‘s 2026-27 Eastern Conference odds, Murphy’s arrival would meaningfully compress their title price – a team built around Cunningham plus a 42.6% catch-and-shoot wing is a legitimate Finals threat, not just a conference contender. Fantasy managers should monitor any Murphy trade reports closely; a move to Detroit slots him into a high-usage offense where his scoring upside scales significantly. The next hard decision point is the offseason trade window – and how aggressively Langdon engages New Orleans in those first weeks will set the tone for everything Detroit does this summer.
