Pistons get Blake Griffin in blockbuster trade

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Justin Atkinson, Sports Editor

The Pistons made a huge trade on Monday for one of the best power forwards in basketball. According to ESPN, Blake Griffin was acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, a first-round and a second-round draft pick. The Pistons will also receive Willie Reed and Brice Johnson from the Clippers. This trade comes after the Pistons lost their eighth straight game.

The Pistons started this season optimistic, and were the second best team in the Eastern for a while. At the beginning of the season, they had a lot of hustle. They were playing great defense and scoring the ball with ease.  They even beat the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on the road.  Ever since they lost point guard Reggie Jackson, the team hasn’t been the same. They have lost  their momentum, they looked tired, and they definitely haven’t looked like a playoff team since then.

When the Pistons lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday, Jan 28 bringing their losing streak to eight games, it was obvious they needed to make a change. The Pistons saw that the team wasn’t doing well with what they had, and decided it was time to make a trade. A player like Griffin can make immediate changes for the team. He is a great rebounder and has become an elite scorer over the duration of this season thanks to his developing  jump shot. Griffin will join Pistons’ center Andre Drummond, who himself is a great rebounder and a talented young player. They will create one of the most talented front-courts in the Eastern conference.

League sources told ESPN that the talk for this trade began six days ago, but the the talks got more intense over the course of Monday. The Pistons traded arguably their best two players for Griffin, but this could be a great trade for both teams. Pistons get a start to play with Drummond and to build around.  The Clippers get some young talent to rebuild their team. The Clippers will most likely keep packaging their star players for young talent and draft picks. Players like Lou Williams, DeAndre Jordan, and Austin Rivers, who are all having terrific seasons, will probably be the next guys traded before the trade deadline. The deadline to make a trade is Thursday, Feb. 8, so be on the lookout for more big trades like this one.

“I like this trade, it’s really cool to have a star player like Blake Griffin on the team now. I hate to give up two starters, but I believe this trade will help the team a lot,” senior Justin Harris said.

The Pistons will likely start Griffin at power forward and Reggie Bullock at shooting guard, who has shined when coming off the bench this season. Meanwhile, Tobias Harris will probably start for the Clippers since he is averaging 18 points and 5 rebounds per game. Some might say that the Pistons gave up too much for Griffin, but they are really looking to win. That was probably the best deal they were going to get, and it’s time to see them change it up. This is a step forward for the Pistons franchise and shows they are trying to win and make something big happen in Detroit.