DETROIT — After an underwhelming return from last year’s season-ending leg injury, Jaden Ivey is being [traded by the Detroit Pistons to the Chicago Bulls as part of a three-team deal](https://www.mlive.com/pistons/2026/02/pistons-trade-jaden-ivey-to-the-bulls-as-part-of-three-team-deal.html).
This iteration of the Pistons under coach J.B. Bickerstaff hasn’t seen many players who contributed regularly over the past few seasons traded out. midyear, but as Detroit has risen to the top of the Eastern Conference, it came time to move on from the former lottery pick.
Since returning this season, Ivey’s seen career lows in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes per game.
Detroit didn’t officially announced the trade until late Tuesday night after the [Pistons’ victory over the Denver Nuggets](https://www.mlive.com/pistons/2026/02/pistons-outlast-jokic-led-nuggets-to-jump-start-winning-streak.html), meaning Bickerstaff couldn’t “say anything” about the deal that marked the end of Ivey’s tenure with the franchise.
While unable to speak directly on the deal — which nets Detroit wing Kevin Huerter, big man Dario Saric and a 2026 first-round pick swap with the Timberwolves — at the time, one of Ivey’s closest friends on the team gave an early reaction to the potential of losing a teammate.
“That’s my brother. That’s my brother for life,” third-year forward Ausar Thompson said. “We were locker mates since I got on this team. We always sat next to each other. To possibly lose him kind of hurts.
“But, you know, that’s how it works. I know wherever (Ivey) goes, greatness follows. He’s gonna be great, no worries for him. Love the guy.”
The Pistons have a tight-knit locker room featuring a lot of young players who have grown together as the team has found its first boom period since the 2000s.
Much of the culture that’s helped Detroit reach the point where it’s 5.5 games ahead of the closest team in the East is thanks to Bickerstaff. Before the season began and deals started emerging, he’s preached the importance of connecting with his players to try and make weeks like this a little more manageable.
“It’s tough. But what we try to do, and this is where I think the building of relationships matters is like, you don’t wait until times are tough to have conversations with people because by that time it’s too late,” Bickerstaff said. “Trying to build relationships with people and have communication with people all throughout the season, in the summer, makes times like this a little less difficult. It’s not going to be easy.”
Even though Ivey was only in his fourth NBA season, he joined Jalen Duren as the third-longest tenured players on the roster, behind Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart.
Now that he’s gone, it’s up to the veterans of the group to keep the team steady, knowing that more deals could potentially come before Thursday’s deadline.
“Just focus on the business at hand and what’s coming in and making sure we win games, making sure we continue to do what we do every night,” Stewart said. “We just block out all the noise.”