When the Detroit Pistons traded Jaden Ivey at the deadline last season for Kevin Heurter, I was a bit underwhelmed. I hadn’t spent a ton of time watching Heurter play throughout his career and pretty much just viewed him as a shooter whose shot had been failing him the last couple seasons.
Say what you want about Jaden Ivey and where things have gone for him since that trade, but getting that value out of somebody you spent the 5th pick on just a few years earlier could be viewed as selling low. Especially
since that player had seemingly lost the one skill that he had banked on throughout their career, and Ivey was in the midst of a breakout season before suffering his season-ending injury the prior season and was still hypothetically getting his legs back when dealt.
When Heurter arrived, the shooting was mostly still dormant, but what stood out was all of the little things on the court he was able to do. His finishing around the basket is fantastic, and he can defend well in a team setting. I wouldn’t call him a shot-creator, but he does have some ability to put the ball on the floor and create a little offense for himself and others, especially when playing off of another ball handler, a skillset the Pistons badly need.
All of these things are why he was given a three-year, $27 million deal to return to the team in the offseason. Those are the things that still have value for a bench player, even if his shot never gets back to where it was early in his career. But as the Pistons look to keep their reign at the top of the Eastern Conference, they will need bench players who can provide skills their main rotation players do not, and one of those skills is outside shooting.
If Kevin Heurter hopes to carve out a consistent role in the Pistons’ regular-season rotation, getting his shot back is going to make or break his season.
The Shooting
Kevin Huerter is a 36.8% three point shooter for his career. But that is skewed heavily by four of his first five seasons in which he shot over 38% from beyond the arc, which is also where he got his reputation as a shooter. After hitting a career-high 40.2% of his outside shots as a key member of the 2022-23 Sacramento Kings that ended the season as the 2-seed, his shooting has fallen off a cliff.
He shot 36.1% during the 2023-24 season, still a solid number. However, he only shot 33.8% from beyond the arc in 2024-25 with both the Kings and Bulls. Then, he shot 30.8% last year with both the Bulls and Pistons, but only 29.4% with the Pistons.
It was a small sample size, and he was trending up a bit towards the end of the season before a hip injury kept Heurter out for most of the playoffs. Heurter actually got minutes in game 1 of the playoffs and appeared like he was going to be a part of JB Bickerstaff’s playoff rotation, so the timing of his injury was unfortunate.
Heurter reportedly underwent a procedure to clean up this injury, which had been bothering him for most of last season, so maybe being fully healthy will help get his shooting back on track.
The reason why Huerter has stuck around in team’s rotations the last couple seasons despite the drop-off in shooting are the things I listed above, like his finishing ability and his ability to do the tertiary things that may not show up on a box score. Huerter has shot 75% or above from 0-3 feet since the 2022-23 season with the Kings. He has actually been above 80% from that range the last couple of seasons. That is a very solid number for any player, but especially one who has the reputation as a one-dimensional shooter.
However, over 50% of his shots still come from beyond the arc, which is why recapturing his early-career shooting ability is so crucial.
The Pistons spent the offseason acquiring more players who can put the ball in the basket from beyond the arc. With their young core of Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren locked in, the Pistons are positioned well to be a very good regular-season team for the foreseeable future. But, two of those three are not outside shooters, so surrounding them with guys that can shoot is almost as important as getting a secondary offensive option that can take some creation pressure off of Cade Cunningham.
You know that guys like Isaiah Joe, Duncan Robinson, and even John Collins are going to shoot in the high-30s and low-40s from beyond the arc, as that is something they have done for at least the last 3 or 4 years. In the case of Kevin Heurter, you don’t have that same level of trust because of how much the shooting has fallen off over the last couple of seasons.
You also still have players getting rotation minutes beyond the “Big Three,” like Ron Holland, who are still a work in progress from beyond the arc.
So, having a player like Kevin Heurter come off the bench and return to being the 38%+ shooter he was early in his career could be a boon to the Pistons’ rotation. It would also make the contract he signed in the offseason very good value since he does do other things on the basketball court well.
The Pistons don’t need another one-dimensional offensive player who can score inside and play a little defense. They need guys that can hit shots from outside, so Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren can attack the basket and dominate games inside like they did all last year. Kevin Heurter, at his peak, can provide exactly that while also being able to put the ball on the floor a bit, finish inside, and not get played off the floor defensively.
The Verdict
JB Bickerstaff seems to trust Kevin Heurter regardless of whether or not he is hitting outside shots. That is evidenced by the fact that he was in the playoff rotation last season before his injury. But, the Pistons did add some more backcourt players in the offseason that will fight for minutes like Ebuka Okorie and Isaiah Joe. Heurter has a size advantage over those two and has the positional versatility to play minutes at the three.
The Pistons also have a few players who will see minutes at the three like Duncan Robinson, Ron Holland, and Javonte Green. Heurter probably can’t reach the level of defense of a Holland or Green or the level of shooting of Duncan Robinson, but some of his complementary skills can be very useful if he is able to get back to form from beyond the arc. He can be somebody who puts some of the skills of both groups of players into one body and can kind of split the difference between all of these likely rotation mainstays.
I don’t see a season quite as good from beyond the arc as he was at his peak, but even getting back to that 2023-2024 season shooting of 36.1% from beyond the arc will be a huge help to the Pistons and give a reason for JB Bickerstaff to continue giving minutes to Heurter.
