The Case for Mudiay
When Jamal Murray went down with an injury for the surging Detroit Pistons, the team was worried they would take a step back without their do-it-all guard who also can hit the three ball at a good rate. They decided to throw the young defensive guard Emmanual Mudiay into a heavy starting rotation after showing a lot of promise coming off the bench and he never looked back.
In order to understand Mudiay and where he is today, you need to get a quick history lesson on who he has been to this point in his career.
Mudiay is a six year pro who was drafted 8th overall in the 2018 CSL Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers (managed by blackice at the time). He came into the league known for his defense and positional versatility, but one who wasn't efficient and couldn't stick as a PG. He spent two mediocre seasons with the Clippers before being shipped to the Timberwolves (for Greg Monroe, Aquille Carr, and Malcolm Brogdon) where GM rhoxxy thought he could add defense to his typically strong defensive teams.
He had two slightly better than mediocre seasons with the Wolves before he spent the 2021 CSL season being bounced around the league where he had a cup of coffee with both the San Antonio Spurs (traded for Nik Stauskas) and Utah Jazz (traded with a 1st for Zach Lavine) before finding a home with the Los Angeles Lakers and GM Jestor (traded for Papagiannis and a 1st). Now anyone who knows Jestor knows he always brings in reclamation projects in home of turning them around into something and this was the thought he had with Mudiay. He wanted him to add defense, but thought he could fix his inefficient shooting woes as well to make him a dual threat player. Jestor spent a 1.3 seasons trying to fix him, and while he put up decent scoring averages, he was still shooting in the low 40% and was eventually shipped to the Pacers in the 2022 CSL offseason (for DeMar DeRozan and a pick swap). He then spent a mere 30 days with the Pacers before Lucas sent him to the Clippers again (traded with a 1st for Enes Kanter, Rawle Alkins, Collin Sexton, and Chimezie Metu). After a couple months with the Clips, Dylan sent him packing to the Pistons (traded for Jordan Adams) where he has been for not even a full year.
Anyone who is keeping count at home knows that as a young talented player, he has been sent to 8 teams in a 6 year period.
Now that we have that covered, lets go back to modern day. Mudiay improved him inefficiency in his final season in DDS3 where he stayed mostly inside and took high percentage shots and this carried over into DDS19 where he's even more efficient at a 49% clip. What has been more impressive is that not only has his defense stayed good (86% STP and 0.9 PA/SF), but he is taking over games offensively in him limited minutes off the bench.
For the season, Mudiay is averaging 19.6 MPG, while putting up 13.8 points, 2.4 assists, 3.4 boards, 0.8 steals, 1.6 TOs, and 1.4 PFs per game. He's shooting 49/32/67, but his PER is 2nd highest on the team behind SJJ at 22.1. More surprising, his Usage rate is an astounding 33.3, which is highest on the Pistons and behind only Luka Doncic, PJ Dozier, Ben Simmons, Josh Hart, Isaiah Austin, and Cory Joseph. All of those guys (outside of Hart) are star players in the league and are carrying their teams in scoring and Mudiay has shown that he can do the same.
Where does Jamal Murray stand with the team after Mudiay's recent outbreak?
In five starts with Murray down, Mudiay put up the following stats:
25.8 points, 4.2 assists, 5 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 3.6 turnovers per game where the Pistons went 4-1.
So where does that leave Mudiay now? That has him questioning his role on the team.
Word out of Detroit has been that Mudiay has seen a lot of interest the last several weeks and the team was close to shipping him out to a Western Conference team before holding firm to him to see what he could do in more minutes. It seems the team is reluctant to move the young guard and is pressuring HC Chauncey Billups to find ways to get him in the lineup.I mean I proved and have been proving all year that the work I put in over the off-season paid off and I should be starting. I know Jamal [Murray] is a workhorse too, but I should be playing more minutes and starting for the team. I'm not saying I'm requesting a trade or anything like that, but coach needs to look to find a way to be creative. We win when I'm out there.
With the trade deadline right around the corner, we will see what the Detroit brass really thinks about Mudiay and if he will find himself on his 9th team in 6 seasons.
2028
