Rockets trade Motiejunas and Thornton to Detroit

Detroit’s decision to retain Motiejunas this offseason will depend upon what they see from him over the season’s last 28 games, both in terms of on-court ability and longterm health prognosis (a herniated disk, the injury suffered last season, can sometimes lead to chronic back issues). Next to Andre Drummond – and in coach/GM Stan Van Gundy’s offensive system – Motiejunas, when healthy, is an excellent pick up for the Pistons.

Now they have obtained their guy a few hours before Thursday’s 3 p.m. National Basketball Association trade deadline.

In another one of the bigger trades announced thus far today, the Houston Rockets will send Marcus Thornton and Donatas Motiejunas to Detroit in exchange for a 2016 first round pick which is Top-8 protected and Joel Anthony. There was also not a deal for point guard Ty Lawson, who had been mentioned in trade talks. Motiejunas encountered numerous setbacks during his recovery from back surgery and has been limited to 14 games this season, averaging 5.6 points. While Lawson has been one of the more dissapointing parts of this season, his contract makes it hard for the Rockets to trade considering his depleted value. The former MI star has had a mostly underwhelming National Basketball Association career and is now coming off the bench.

Citing unnamed sources, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that the deal was done, though the Pistons have not confirmed it yet.

As for Houston, undoubtedly fans will likely scratch their heads as to why such a deal was made.

“We’re happy to welcome Donatas and Marcus to the Pistons family”, Pistons general manager Jeff Bower said.

Thornton, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, is averaging 10 points this season.