In a deal that saves the Pistons some money and gives them a trade exception to make a move later if they want, Detroit is trading Caris LeVert to Milwaukee, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and confirmed by multiple reports.
The trade breaks down this way:
Detroit receives: Taurean Prince, Gary Harris
Milwaukee receives: Caris LeVert, two second-round picks
The Pistons will also generate a $15 million trade exception with this deal (which ultimately folds into a larger six-team trade).
For Detroit, this is about freeing up some cap space — they still have to re-sign restricted free-agent center Jalen Duren, and that is going to push them close to, or into, the luxury tax.
Factoring in the reported contracts for John Collins, Kevin Huerter & Javonte Green and the Gary Harris/Taurean Prince acquisitions, I've got the Pistons at about $42.8M under the luxury tax.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 8, 2026
That's enough room to give Jalen Duren a 25% of the cap max without going into the tax.
For Milwaukee, they get a player in LeVert who can play for them this season while freeing up some roster spots. In the wake of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, the Bucks have a lot of new faces and some redundancy on the roster and want to clean it all up.
