NBA Trade Rumors: Pistons and Magic have discussed Reggie Jackson and DJ Augustin exchange

According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic have had trade discussions centered around Reggie Jackson and DJ Augustin. Jeff Green would also be included to match salaries.

This would be a bit of a strange trade. As you may remember, DJ Augustin and Kyle Singler were traded to Oklahoma City for Reggie Jackson at the trade deadline in 2015. To trade Reggie Jackson in order to get DJ Augustin back would be selling pretty low on Reggie Jackson.

DJ Augustin was solid during his brief time starting after Brandon Jennings went down with an Achilles tear and before he was traded for Jackson. Bringing him back may not disrupt things too much because he is familiar with the system. However, he is not really much of an upgrade defensively over Reggie Jackson and is not better than Jackson offensively when he is fully healthy.

I would say the inclusion of Jeff Green in this trade would be purely for salary purposes, but it is important to note that the trade as outlined by Marc Stein doesn’t even work in the NBA Trade Machine. It would if you also added another former Piston, Jodie Meeks, in place of Jeff Green. But Stein went with Green for some reason.

The thinking behind this sort of trade is likely to move Reggie Jackson’s contract for a cheaper deal and an expiring contract in order to pay Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ths summer without having to worry about the potential luxury tax implications.

While I am personally not opposed to a Reggie Jackson trade, I would rather wait and see if he can get healthy and play a bit better to restore some value. Unless, of course, he is causing serious problems in the locker room that we are not fully aware of.

I would take this rumor with a grain of salt. I don’t really see that many benefits to this trade. Also, Marc Stein is the same person who reported the potential Ricky Rubio for Reggie Jackson swap that was quickly shot down by Stan Van Gundy. Speaking of which, what Stein-created Reggie Jackson rumor do you like more?

It is trade season, so expect to hear a few more trade rumors pop up out of nowhere during this crazy time. Especially with the Pistons checking out the market for Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond. If anything more comes of this rumor, we will keep you updated.