The hours preceding Thursday’s NBA Draft got somewhat more fascinating for the Pistons.
The Pistons on Wednesday night traded huge man Jon Leuer to the Milwaukee Bucks for forward Tony Snell and the 30th pick in the draft.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the of the trade.
The move adds a required wing to their playing rotation and gives some flexibility in the draft, where the Pistons currently will have the 15th, 30th and 45th picks.
Snell is set to make $11.4 million next season and has a player alternative for $12.2 million for 2020-21, the final years of a four-year deal worth $46 million that he signed in the summer of 2017.
Snell, 27, is 6-foot-7, 215 pounds and has played six seasons in the NBA — three each with the Bulls and Bucks. In 74 games this season, he arrived at the midpoint of 6 points, 2.1 bounce back and shot 40 percent on 3-pointers, taking around three for every game.
His arrival fills the requirement for veteran wing help, as the Pistons managed both Reggie Bullock and Stanley Johnson at the exchange due date and completed the season with a three-guard rotation.
Snell began 80 games in 2016-17 for the Bucks, 59 the accompanying season and assumed a hold role this season for the Bucks, who had the best record in the NBA. He was the twentieth by and large pick in the 2013 draft playing three seasons at New Mexico.
The trade benefits the Pistons in that they surrendered Leuer, who played in only 41 games this season yet posted 3.8 focuses and 2.4 rebounds. Leuer, 30, completed his third season with the Pistons, after signing a four-year deal for $41 million in 2016.
Leuer suffered foot injury in 2017-18 that restricted him to only eight games and he hasn’t been the equivalent since. His lapsing contract was seen as a benefit, which the Pistons chose to trade out Wednesday, to get the Bucks’ first-round pick and a rotational piece in Snell.
By taking on Leuer’s terminating contract with only $9.5 next season rather than Snell’s, the Bucks spare about $4 million next season, which will enable them to retain center Brook Lopez and keep their core, including restricted free agent Malcolm Brogdon, intact for another playoff run.
The Bucks drafted Leuer, who had a successful college career at Wisconsin, 40th overall in 2011 and he played his rookie season in Milwaukee before being dealt to the Cavaliers the following year.