According to league sources, Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports reports the Milwaukee Bucks will send restricted free agent Brandon Jennings to the Detroit Pistons in return for guard Brandon Knight, forward Khris Middleton and center Slava Kravtsov as part of a sign-and-trade with Jennings for a three-year, $24 million deal.
This will be the second big signing the Pistons have done in a busy offseason, with the first involving the free agent signing of former Hawks forward, Josh Smith, to a four-year, $56 million deal earlier in July.
Today we detailed how Jennings appeared to be inching closer to accepting the Bucks’ $4.5 million qualifying offer in order to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. But with the sign-and-trade, he’ll be joining a new Pistons team and making close to what his former backcourt partner in Milwaukee, Monta Ellis, signed to join the Dallas Mavericks.
The 23-year-old Jennings averaged 17.5 points and 6.5 assists per game last season with Milwaukee as they squeezed into the playoffs as the eighth seed in a top-heavy Eastern Conference before being swept in the first round by the eventual champion, Miami. Despite the second consecutive playoff birth, Jennings saw his shooting percentage plummet below 40 percent from the floor last season despite knocking down a career high 37.5 percent of his 3-point field goals.
The drop in his overall field goal percentage can be attributed to an increase in long jumpers inside the arc, and a lower efficiency near the rim. Jennings shot only 29.4 percent from 3-9 feet last year, and saw his field goal percentage at the rim drop from 57.7 in 2012, to 52.4 last season, per hoopdata. Whether Jennings’ shooting woes continue could decide Detroit’s fortunes next season, but with Chauncey Billups returning to Detroit this summer, his presence as a mentor could be advantageous for the younger Jennings.
It remains to be seen whether the pieces Detroit’s GM Joe Dumars acquired this offseason will fit together — we didn’t think so highly of the Rajon Rondo/Brandon Knight flop that didn’t happen — but it’s exciting for Pistons fans who haven’t had a lot to be cheery about after their city declared bankruptcy earlier this month. The Pistons haven’t won a playoff series since 2008, but that might change this season with all the new additions.
How do you think Jennings will do in Detroit?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @countcenci.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
