The writing was on the wall for the Detroit Pistons. The Brooklyn Nets have made a max offer to restricted free agent Otto Porter of the Washington Wizards, and once the Wizards match, their sights will likely be set on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The Pistons decided to be proactive rather than wait to deal with this future offer sheet, and they traded Marcus Morris to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Avery Bradley and a 2019 second round pick. This provided the Celtics with almost exactly the amount of salary relief they needed in order to complete their signing of Gordon Hayward and gave the Pistons an upgrade over KCP at the shooting guard spot at a much more affordable price.