Michigan basketball: Isaiah Livers’ chances just got a little bit easier

How did the trade between the Pistons and Nets affect former Michigan basketball star Isaiah Livers? Find out here.

When Isaiah Livers was drafted 42nd overall by the Detroit Pistons, it seemed like the perfect landing spot. It wasn’t just perfect because of the location (with him being right down the road from Little Caesars Arena), but it was also the perfect fit in terms of playing time.

Coming from Michigan basketball, Livers was known as a “tweener” forward, which means that he doesn’t really fit into any one category of forward (small forward or power forward).

Livers isn’t athletic enough to keep up with faster guards and forwards (but makes up for that with his team defense and 3-point shooting), but he is strong enough to bully and punish opposing power forwards.

This all played right into Isaiah’s hands if we’re being honest. If there are two things the NBA loves, it’s versatility and the three-ball. Isaiah has both of these things in his back pocket.

When Livers was drafted by the Pistons, a few days later, he signed a guaranteed contract set at three years (third year is a team option) for around $4 million.

This was all fine and dandy, but how would Livers maneuver his way onto the active game day roster? There’s a lot of rookies and players in general who is healthy DNP’s in the NBA during the season.

Plus, although the Pistons didn’t have a ton of star power on their team, the forward position was still log-jammed with five or six other forwards besides Livers trying to make an impact.

The most obvious is Jeremi Grant, who is their starting forward, and is a near all-star, but behind him, the only other semi-proven forward was Saadiq Bey, a rookie who made the All-Rookie Team last season.

Behind those two were Trey Lyles (who the Pistons acquired in a trade), Kelly Olynyk (acquired in free agency), Sekou Doumbouya (drafted #14 overall in 2019), Jamarko Pickett (who signed an Exhibition 10 contract after the Summer League), and Chris Smith (who signed a two-way deal after going undrafted after the NBA Draft concluded).

Besides Olynyk behind Grant and Bey, none of those guys are proven at all.
Trey Lyles has a career average of five points a game and is just depth for the Pistons.

Sekou Doumbouya looked more and more like a bust of a lottery pick as last season went on. All the rest of the guys didn’t have even close to near the resumé that Livers had coming out of college.

Despite all of this, Isaiah Livers still has a ton of bodies fighting for minutes in front of him. Well, Friday, the one guy that might’ve put up the hardest fight for playing time against him just got traded. Adrian Wojnarowski has the scoop:

Why Sekou being traded was the best thing for Livers

Lost in all of the carnage that was the Nets-Pistons trade was the trade of Sekou Doumbouya. He wasn’t drafted by the new-Pistons GM Troy Weaver, but he still had something to prove to the front office, and he was a lottery talent, so the upside was definitely there.

Now, Sekou will get a fresh start somewhere else, and Isaiah’s job to play minutes just got easier.
All Isaiah has to do now is go through Trey Lyles (that should be a piece of cake), and possibly Jamorko Pickett and Chris Smith.

Both of those guys aren’t household names like Isaiah Livers is. None of those guys even got a guaranteed contract like Isaiah, so it’s obvious the Pistons front office really likes the potential of the former Michigan basketball standout.

I think Liver’s future position is at the ‘4’ (power forward) backing up Isaiah Stewart or Kelly Olynyk (depending on which one of them plays the ‘4’ and which one plays the ‘5’).

If nothing else, Isaiah Livers can become the next Saadiq Bey, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Saadiq Bey shot the three-ball very well moving side-to-side last year for Detroit, and Livers was 43 percent for his career from three with Michigan basketball. A 3-point specialist definitely has a place in the NBA, just look at what Duncan Robinson has done so far in the league.

Overall, I can’t think of a better place for Isaiah Livers to have landed. He gets to stay home for at least 3-4 more years, and the competition around him to get NBA minutes just gets lighter and lighter (and Isaiah hasn’t even had to do anything).