Amir Johnson's out. Fabricio Oberto in.

The Detroit Pistons have traded Amir Johnson to the Milwakee Bucks for Fabricio Oberto (who was acquired earlier in the day when Richard Jefferson was traded to San Antonio in a salary dump for Bruce Bowen, Oberto, and Kurt Thomas.)

Oberto, 34, is a 6-10, 245 center. This past season he averaged 2.6 points a game, 2.6 rebounds a game and 1.1 assists per game during 12.5 minutes a game. He also was hampered by injuries throughout the year, and only played in 2 games for the Spurs in the playoffs.

Johnson is scheduled to make $3.66 million next season in the final year of his contract, while Oberto is in the last year of his deal for $3.5 million. As of today, this is a terrible deal for the Pistons. Oberto does give the Pistons another center. Right now, the Pistons only have Kwame Brown at that position and he may or may not come back depending on whether he activates his option year. But, we also lose a PF, and we only have Maxiell at that spot. Johnson also is 12 years younger and provides a change-of-pace off the bench with his athleticism. If nothing else, he has untapped potential that the Pistons gave up on way, way too quick. Why not just keep him for one more year to see what he could do during his contract season?

Short term, this may help us out because Oberto can provide some help at center. Long term, this makes absolutely no sense. All in all, this is a terrible deal. I am guessing that we might waive Oberto to free up cap space. That would make more sense than simply trading Johnson for a guy with no upside who is 12 years older. If that happens, then I will re-address the topic in a later post.

Update: "Fabricio Oberto has a partially guaranteed salary. This means that if he is waived by July 1, teams only have to pay him 1.9 of his 3.8 million dollar contract. In other words, there is a strong chance that he’ll either be traded or waived by July 1."

Hat tip to Matt at Detroit Bad Boys. So, I imagine the Pistons will release him and save $1.9 million this season. If anything, this does open up the possibility that the Pistons might trade for an additional 1st round pick because the salary is now available to do so.

As of today, this deal makes no sense. But, I trust Joe D. If he is willing to give up on a 22 year old PF with freakish athleticism, I have to think that he is planning on acquiring another draft pick at some point in the first round by offering up some of his 3 second round picks. If that happens, then this deal makes sense. We'll see.

Update: MLive is reporting that Oberto, as I had speculated, will be waived.