Despite now being weeks removed from the move that shipped Isaiah Joe from the OKC Thunder to the Detroit Pistons, the transaction is still surprisingly being analyzed by top-billed pundits like Zach Lowe.
Unfortunately, Oklahoma City's decision to pull the trigger is not being viewed in a good light.
While it's well understood that the Thunder's primary goal when parting ways with Joe was to chip away at their lofty, second-apron-residing payroll, what they got back for his services was far from anything to write home about.
In fact, during a recent episode of The Zach Lowe Show, the eponymous host and long-time sportswriter argued that the Pistons capitalized "on the Thunder's need to cut money" and, in the end, "stole Isaiah Joe for nothing."
Pistons believed to have stolen Isaiah Joe from Thunder 'for nothing'
Detroit just wrapped up the 2025-26 campaign as the top seed in the Eastern Conference standings, but was ultimately bounced from the postseason via an upset, second-round loss to the Cavaliers.
This underwhelming demise was largely due to sudden offensive ineptitude, as they averaged just 107.4 points per game in the Semi-Finals and registered in the 24 percentile in points per 100 possessions with Cade Cunningham off the court throughout the playoffs.
For a player like Joe, who, with his contract details and high-impact sparkplug scoring abilities, is quite literally the exact archetype talent the Pistons were missing around Cunningham during their ill-fated playoff run, one would have assumed that a player of the veteran's caliber would have drawn the Thunder at least a first-round pick in exchange.
Instead, it took just two future second-rounders for Sam Presti and company to move on from their title-tested guard.
Now, of course, even with this return, the deal might have been seen as somewhat reasonable had the club continued to shed salary until they were completely out of the second apron.
However, as things currently stand, the Thunder are still roughly $13 million over the $221.68 million threshold, and, with the recent pickup of Lu Dort's option, it looks as though the Thunder may be content with staying there.
So now, not only did OKC cough up a player in I-Joe who, to Lowe, provides the title-hopeful Pistons with another player capable of taking "bites at the shooter apple" next year, but they simultaneously lost their top catch-and-shoot scoring threat and one of their most treasured second-unit weapons from this past season for what can only be viewed as a true sell-low move by the Thunder.
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