AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – The Detroit Pistons announce today that the team has acquired guard Brandon Jennings from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for guard Brandon Knight, forward Khris Middleton and center Viacheslav Kravtsov.
“We are pleased to welcome Brandon (Jennings) to the Pistons family,” said Joe Dumars, Pistons President of Basketball Operations. “We believe Brandon’s talent and skill-set will complement the core group of players we have assembled on our roster in a positive way. We also want to thank Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton and Slava Kravtsov for their contributions to our organization. We appreciate everything they have done for our team both on and off the court and we wish them the best moving forward.”
Jennings, 23, averaged 17.5 points, a career-high 6.5 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 36.2 minutes in 80 games last season (all starts). Among NBA league leaders he ranked T-15th in assists and T-20th in scoring. The 6-1, 170-pound California native averaged a career-high 19.1 points during the 2011-12 season (16th in the NBA) and hit three or more three-pointers in a game 22 times, the fifth-highest total in the NBA. He recorded 31 points, eight assists, four steals and zero turnovers in a win over Miami (2/1/12), becoming the fourth player in the last decade to reach those marks in a game without committing a turnover (joining Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Stephon Marbury). Jennings recorded his first career triple-double (20 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds) against Charlotte (10/30) during the 2010-11 season and scored an NBA-best 55 points (21-34 FG, 7-8 3FG) against Golden State (11/14) during the 2009-10 season, becoming one of just two players in NBA history (along with Elgin Baylor) to score 50-plus points and record a triple-double within their first 100 NBA games. Drafted 10th in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft, Jennings has earned NBA Player of the Week honors three times, won the NBA’s Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award four times during his first season (the most by an Eastern Conference rookie at the time) and was named to the 2010 NBA All-Rookie First Team.
Knight, drafted eighth overall by the Pistons in the 2011 NBA Draft, averaged 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 31.5 minutes in 75 games last season (all starts). He averaged 13.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 141 games over two seasons with Detroit and was named to the 2011-12 NBA All-Rookie First Team.
Middleton, drafted 39th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, averaged 6.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 17.6 minutes in 27 games last season. He scored 10-plus points eight times, including a career-high 14 vs. Dallas (3/8).
Kravtsov, acquired as a free agent, averaged 3.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 9.0 minutes in 25 games last season, his first with Detroit. He recorded career-highs of 14 points and 10 rebounds at Indiana (2/22).
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