Photo screenshot: @MiamiHeatZone YOUTUBE/BREAKING: Isaiah Joe Traded to the Pistons! #detriotpistons #detriotbasketball #nba
Isaiah Joe is leaving Oklahoma City. The Thunder sent the guard to the Detroit Pistons today in exchange for two future second-round picks in 2030 and 2031. For a Fort Smith, Arkansas native who won a championship with the Thunder in 2025, the trade closes a meaningful chapter in his career.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the deal. It pairs two of last season’s conference champions, with the Thunder finishing as the Western Conference’s best team and the Pistons leading the East. Trades between that pair of teams are rare. In this case, both sides had clear reasons to make it work.
Why the Thunder traded Joe
Oklahoma City faces a mounting payroll problem heading into the offseason. Extensions for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are on the horizon. The new collective bargaining agreement has made managing those obligations more complicated and more expensive.
Trading Joe removed $11.3 million from the Thunder’s payroll for the upcoming season. Combined with an earlier deal that sent Aaron Wiggins elsewhere, the two moves cut the team’s luxury tax penalty by a combined $140 million. Oklahoma City also picked up two future second-round picks in the process.
The Thunder can absorb the departure. Joe’s role had already shrunk during the 2026 Western Conference Finals against San Antonio. The front office drafted Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz this offseason. Rookie-scale guards Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain also provide younger, cheaper depth. Moving Joe clears the path for those players to develop.
What Joe brings to the Detroit Pistons
For Detroit, Joe fills a specific need. The Pistons have been building around Cade Cunningham and want shooters around him who can open the floor. Joe does exactly that. He shot above 40% from beyond the arc in each of his four seasons with the Thunder, including a career-best 42.3% this past year. His regular season average of 11.1 points per game was also a career high.
Detroit had been pursuing other options earlier this offseason. After missing on Austin Reaves and Coby White, the Pistons landed Joe without giving up a first-round pick. They plan to use a trade exception from a recent Isaiah Stewart transaction to absorb his salary. Joe has two years and $22.6 million remaining on his deal.
Joe’s legacy in Oklahoma City and Fort Smith
Joe joined the Thunder in 2022 after spending three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was a second-round pick, taken 49th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft out of Arkansas. Over four seasons in Oklahoma City, he built a reputation as a reliable shooter off the bench and a valued piece of a championship roster.
Joe and teammate Jaylin Williams, also a Fort Smith native, returned home together after the 2025 title to celebrate with the community. Additionally, parts of two Fort Smith streets are set to carry their names in the coming months. The trade does not erase any of that. It simply starts a new chapter for a player whose three-point shooting gives Detroit something it has been looking for.
SOURCE: USA TODAY
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