The Oklahoma City Thunder are trading guard Isaiah Joe to the Detroit Pistons for two second-round picks, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Friday, continuing the defending champions’ offseason effort to trim payroll after winning last year’s NBA title.

The Thunder will receive second-round selections in 2030, via the Minnesota Timberwolves, and 2031, sources said, in exchange for one of the league’s most reliable three-point specialists.

A financially driven move for the champions

For Oklahoma City, the trade is straightforwardly about money rather than basketball fit. It’s a financially motivated move for the Thunder that addresses the Pistons’ need to add perimeter shooting alongside superstar point guard Cade Cunningham.

The deal marks the second time in a week that Oklahoma City has shed a valued role player from its 2024-25 championship roster purely to manage its salary structure. Oklahoma City traded wing Aaron Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks for two second-round picks, sources told Charania on Sunday, in a similar move that preceded Friday’s trade.

Together, the two deals have meaningfully reshaped Oklahoma City’s financial outlook heading into next season. Those deals trimmed Oklahoma City’s projected salary for next season from $261 million to $234 million, and factoring in luxury tax, the trades will save the Thunder a total of $216 million, according to projections by ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks.

That savings estimate assumes Oklahoma City makes specific decisions on several other roster options in the coming days. Marks is forecasting that Oklahoma City will exercise the team options for center Isaiah Hartenstein, worth $28.5 million, and guard Luguentz Dort, worth $18.2 million, but not for reserve forward Kenrich Williams, whose option is valued at $7.2 million.

Joe’s path from waiver claim to championship sharpshooter

Joe’s four seasons in Oklahoma City represented a remarkable rise for a player who entered the league with little fanfare. He was the Thunder’s pickup from a waiver claim off the Philadelphia 76ers, where he had struggled to find playing time, starting just two games across his first two NBA seasons after being selected in the second round of the 2020 draft.

Once he arrived in Oklahoma City, Joe quickly carved out a role as one of the league’s most efficient shooters. He shot 41.5% from three-point range over the past four seasons, and according to ESPN Research, Joe has the highest three-point percentage among 56 players with at least 1,500 attempts over that stretch.

His final season with the Thunder was also his best individually. Joe set career highs in scoring and three-point percentage during the 2025-26 campaign, averaging 11.1 points per game while shooting 42.3% from beyond the arc across 71 regular-season appearances. He averaged 9.7 points per game overall during his Oklahoma City tenure, primarily coming off the bench.

A reduced role in the playoffs signaled change was coming

Despite his regular-season production, Joe’s role diminished significantly once the postseason arrived, a shift that foreshadowed his departure. His role was reduced during the playoffs, when trade-deadline addition Jared McCain surpassed him in the Thunder’s backcourt rotation. In the playoffs, Joe averaged just 4.8 points in 11.0 minutes across 13 games, playing sparingly as Oklahoma City advanced through the Western Conference, including limited minutes against the San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals.

That decline in postseason usage, combined with the Thunder’s pressing need to manage their cap situation, made Joe an obvious trade candidate as the offseason began.

What the Pistons are getting

For Detroit, the acquisition addresses a glaring weakness from a season that otherwise exceeded expectations. The Pistons made 11.0 threes per game last season, which ranked 28th in the NBA and last in the Eastern Conference, despite the team’s broader success on the floor.

That success was considerable: the Pistons are coming off the franchise’s first 60-win season since 2005-06, before falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Detroit had reportedly entered the offseason eyeing free agents like Austin Reaves and Coby White as it searched for outside shooting to pair with Cunningham, before those targets re-signed with their incumbent teams and the Pistons pivoted to a trade for Joe instead.

In Detroit, Joe joins a backcourt that already features some shooting depth, including Duncan Robinson, who shot 41% from three-point range last season, and Daniss Jenkins, who shot 37.4%. Joe is expected to continue filling a similar role for the Pistons that he held in Oklahoma City, providing instant shooting off the bench alongside Cunningham in the starting lineup.

The financial terms of the deal

Joe is due $11.3 million next season and has a team option for $11.3 million in 2027-28, the second-to-last and final seasons, respectively, of the four-year, $48 million contract he originally signed with Oklahoma City in 2022. How Detroit ultimately structures the money to absorb that salary will depend on the team’s other offseason moves, though the Pistons are positioned to operate as an over-the-cap team with several mechanisms available to take Joe’s contract on, including a trade exception generated by an earlier deal sending big man Isaiah Stewart to Memphis.

A franchise still reshaping itself around its core

For Oklahoma City, Friday’s trade is part of a broader offseason recalibration following the franchise’s championship run, one that has already included multiple roster decisions tied to managing the second tax apron. The Thunder also added draft assets through the 2026 draft itself, selecting prospects including Aday Mara, Bennett Stirtz and Otega Oweh, even as the front office continued working to balance its books around its core group of stars.

With the Joe and Wiggins trades now official, Oklahoma City has accumulated four second-round picks this offseason through deals involving the two players, giving general manager Sam Presti additional long-term assets even as the team parts ways with two contributors from its title-winning roster. The Thunder’s next major decisions, including the option calls on Hartenstein, Dort and Williams, are expected in the coming days as Oklahoma City continues reshaping its roster and payroll heading into the 2026-27 season.