Nick Wass/Associated Press
Swingman Reggie Bullock will be traded for the third time in his career.
The Detroit Pistons will trade Bullock to the Los Angeles Lakers, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Tuesday.
Detroit will receive Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and a draft pick in return for the veteran guard.
This comes after Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday the Lakers were one of multiple teams to reach out to the Pistons regarding Bullock’s availability. While she noted the Pistons weren’t “very interested in moving him for what they’ve been offered” at the time, this return package changed their mind.
Bullock is playing on an expiring contract, so the Pistons were able to get something for him in return before he potentially hits the open market this coming offseason.
The North Carolina product was a first-round pick in 2013 and has played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns and Pistons. The Clippers traded him to the Suns in January 2015, and Phoenix moved him to Detroit in July of that year.
He is a versatile player who can defend ball-handling guards or forwards on the wing and held opponents to 2.6 percent worse shooting from three-point range than their normal averages when he defended them during the 2017-18 campaign, per NBA.com.
Offensively, he was nothing more than a rotational player despite his draft status in his first four seasons and didn’t average more than 4.5 points a night during that span. However, he took a jump in 2017-18 for the Pistons and averaged 11.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 44.5 percent from deep, which were all career-highs at the time.
Bullock has built on that this season with 12.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, all career highs.
Los Angeles now has someone who can stretch the floor and take advantage of openings created by the defensive attention LeBron James attracts with his outside shooting. He can also slash to the basket when defenders press up on that shot and figures to slide right into the wing rotation as his new team hopes to make a playoff run.
The Lakers will need all the depth they can get if they are going to advance in the daunting Western Conference, and Bullock provides more shooting around James.
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