Is Bogdan Bogdanovic His Brother?

The Detroit Pistons are preparing for the 2022-23 season by incorporating more 3-point shooting into their roster. According to multiple reports, the Utah Jazz have agreed to trade Bojan Bogdanovic to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Saben Lee and Kelly Olynyk.

Bogdanovic provides the Pistons with a much-needed 3-point punch, as the team ranked 29th in the NBA in 3-point percentage (32.6%) last season despite finishing in the middle of the pack in 3 points (16th). Bogdanovic hit 39.7% of his 3-pointers and made 550 in three seasons with the Jazz (2020-22). He made 181 3-point shots last season, ranking second on the Pistons behind Saddiq Bey (211 3-point shots).

Bogdanovic, 33, averaged 18.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. However, after hitting a career-high 20.2 points per game with Utah in 2019-20, he has seen his scoring average go down each season. Next summer, Bogdanovic will be an unrestricted free agent. Detroit finished 23-59 in 2021-22, trailing Houston and Orlando at the bottom of the league standings, but has hope for the future thanks to a young core led by sophomore guard Cade Cunningham.

In 64 games, he overcame an ankle injury that hampered his start with an average of 17.4 points per game, second in his category with 5.6 assists per game and fifth with 5.5 rebounds. The Pistons traded leading scorer Jerami Grant to the Portland Trail Blazers early in the offseason and selected former Purdue star Jaden Ivey with the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft. Ivey, a 6 point guard 4-foot-4 and 195 pounds, averaged 17.3 points and made 36% of his 3-point attempts last season.

Detroit also acquired No. 13 draft center Jalen Duren in a draft night trade, giving the team extra size down the middle. Bogdanovic will join a frontline rotation at Detroit that includes former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Stewart and Bey. Bey, a third-year player, averaged 16.1 points per game while setting a Pistons single-season record for 3 points.

Stewart is a third-year killer big man who averaged 8.3 points per game, 8.7 rebounds per game and 1.1 blocks per game in 71 starts. On the Utah side, he’s another player added during the Jazz’s busy offseason. In separate blockbuster trades that brought back a slew of young assets, the team dealt All-Star center Rudy Gobert and kept Donovan Mitchell. Lee joins a bodyguard that includes Collin Sexton, Talin Horton-Tucker, Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, Malik Beasley and others.

Olynyk is entering his tenth and fourth NBA season in the past two years. He signed as a free agent with the Pistons in 2021 and averaged 9.1 points per game, 4.4 rebounds per game and 2.8 assists per game on reserve duty. Olynyk is signed for the next two seasons, but his contract for 2023-24 is not fully guaranteed. He is part of a revamped Jazz frontcourt that includes Jarrett Vanderbilt, Lauri Markkanen, Udoka Azubuike and rookie Walker Kessler.