Andre Drummond has been the face of the Detroit Pistons since being drafted in 2012. However, they dealt him to Cleveland for John Henson, Brandon Knight, and a 2023 second round pick. On Friday in Oklahoma City, the Pistons will enter a whole new era of Detroit Basketball without Andre, as he was dealt to Cleveland before the NBA’s trade deadline. The Thunder had been active on the phones, and a rumored deal to send Danilo Gallinari fell through after Gallinari and Miami couldn’t agree to an extension.
Without Drummond, Detroit will have to find rebounding and post scoring elsewhere. Derrick Rose will likely be big for the Pistons the rest of the season, but he is listed as OUT on the Pistons injury report for Fridays game against the Thunder. As for Rose’s new teammates, they would have been better off staying in Oklahoma City. Henson and Knight’s status are both in the air. Henson scored only 10 points in just above 30 minutes in Cleveland’s loss and Knight has been inactive since January 14. With that said, the Pistons will be shorthanded without Drummond and Frazier, two of their lone healthy players after a very injury-riddled season, now have a steeper climb uphill.
The Pistons have won two of their last three games, and will play the Thunder in their first of back to back games . Detroit is coming off of a 116-108 victory over Phoenix, where Drummond had 31 points, and 19 rebounds. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out without Drummond.
Injury Report: Detroit: Khyri Thomas(foot), Markieff Morris(illness), Svi Mykhailiuk(hip), Derrick Rose(knee), and Blake Griffin(arthroscopic surgery) are all listed as out. Brandon Knight and John Henson are both listed as questionable. Two-way players Jordan Bone and Louis King are both active Friday. Oklahoma City: No players on the injury report
Chesapeake Energy Arena 8:00 ET
Spread: OKC -12.0
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