The Detroit Pistons are finalizing a trade with the Utah Jazz for Bojan Bogdanovic by sending Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee to Salt Lake City, according to ESPN on Friday.

The arrival of 33-year-old Bogdanovic will become an instant enhancement for the young, promising squad of the Pistons, especially on the offensive end. Though they are unlikely to become a playoff berth immediately, the Pistons are beginning to give people reasons to look at them differently.

The last time the Pistons reached the postseason was in the 2018-19 campaign. They were 41-41 in the regular season, eighth in the Eastern Conference and then swept by the Milwaukee bucks in the first round of the playoffs.

The Pistons won only 20, 20 and 23 games respectively in the three seasons since then. They received high draft picks in return and selected Killian Hayes (seventh pick) in 2020, Cade Cunningham (first pick) in 2021 and Jaden Ivey (fifth pick) in 2022. The team also traded with the New York Knicks on the draft day on June 23 to acquire Jalen Duren who was the 13th selection of the 2022 Class.

Though Hayes was likely to become a bust, Cunningham showed some great potential in his rookie season in the NBA. As a 1.98-meter-tall guard, he has averaged 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists for the Pistons in 64 games.

Cunningham is not an explosive athlete like Jalen Green who was drafted after him, but he has the calm mindset and patience on the court, which can take years for young players to develop. He is skillful in exploiting mismatches over small defenders near the paint. He is neither very fast nor powerful, but Cunningham made good use of pace-changing when he was penetrating and has a soft touch to make layups under the rim.

Moreover, though Cunningham still lacks experience, he is already able to make defensive contributions against non-top back-court playmakers. He knows how to exploit his size advantage and reads well the timing of cutting the ball on the weak side.

What Cunningham is not good at, including charging the rim and scoring explosively, is the mission for Ivey, an 1.93-meter guard from Purdue University. He averaged 17.3 points and earned 5.8 free throws in his second year in college. Some of the moments when he exploded to the rim or ran past defenders reminded watchers of Ja Morant, but Ivey (90 kilograms) is much stronger than Morant (78 kilograms) and with much longer wingspan (2.07-meters to 2.01 meters).

The Pistons were once closely connected with Deandre Ayton during the offseason because they were able to sign him with pure salary space after sending Jerami Grant away to the Portland Trail Blazers. However, the Pistons used the space to land Kemba Walker, Alec Burks, Nerlans Noel. They also got Duren, a 18-year-old, 2.11-meter-tall big man who is able to score 12 points and 8.1 rebounds at almost 60 percent field goal rate in the University of Memphis. Though Duren is only a rookie, he is physically ready for the NBA with 113-kilogram weight. With Cunningham and Ivey running offense, Duren can focus on setting picks and then rolling toward the rim to finish.

The Pistons have third-year Saddiq Bey and Marvin Bagley III who just finished his rookie deal for the two forward positions. Bey already lifted his scoring to 16.1 points last season and he could make 2.6 triples per game at 34.6 percent. Bagley was a total disappointment in the Sacramento Kings but he was slowly growing better after being traded to the Pistons, averaging 14.6 points and 6.8 rebounds, including 2.1 on the offensive glass.

Generally speaking, the Pistons are able to assemble a young squad with an average age of less than 21 years old to the floor while experienced veterans Bogdanovic, Noel, Burks and Cory Joseph were waiting to help off the bench. The team already has a clearer framework than the Orlando Magic and more promising players than the Indiana Pacers. The Pistons should be a legit competitor with the Washington Wizards, Knicks and Charlotte Hornets for a play-in tournament berth, if all goes well for them.