Detroit is weighing a Tyler Herro deal that could send Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland out, a move that would reshape the team that spent the last two seasons climbing from the league’s cellar to the edge of contention. The Pistons are trying to add a second star alongside Cade Cunningham, but the price could be two of the players most closely tied to the team’s edge and identity.
That is why Kelel Ware is being searched now even though he is not named in the reported package: readers are trying to sort out which version of the trade is actually on the table. The current read around the league is that Detroit is choosing between moving Holland or, instead, trying to structure the deal around the No. 21 pick. If the pick is used, Trajan Langdon would be sending out the first draft pick he ever made for the franchise.
Herro is the kind of scorer Detroit has lacked. The Pistons’ playoff weakness was not just shot making, but secondary playmaking and ball handling too, and Herro would address that with an attack that can score at multiple levels and in multiple ways. He can tilt a game with volume and shot creation, which is exactly why he fits the search for a true No. 2 option next to Cunningham.
But the cost is not abstract. Stewart remains one of the most impactful interior defenders in the NBA, and the numbers back that up: he was one of only three players who held opponents to sub-50% shooting within 3 feet of the rim on three or more attempts per game. Holland, meanwhile, is the player most associated with making things happen when Detroit needs a spark, the kind of high-energy chaos that can turn a quiet stretch into a run.
That is where the deal gets uncomfortable. Herro can add the scoring Detroit needs, but Stewart and Holland are tied to the energy, grit, and defense that helped the Pistons grow into a 60-win team over the last two seasons. Give that up, and Detroit risks changing the part of itself that made the climb possible.
The trend lines point toward Detroit keeping the pick and losing Holland, not the other way around. That would make this one of the few all-in adjacent moves the Pistons can make with this core, and it would answer the question hanging over the rumor: if Detroit goes for Herro, the cost is likely Holland, not Kelel Ware, and the team will have chosen scoring over some of the force that got it here.
