A likely suitor for KCP’s services has dropped out (probably)

A key competitor in the coming race for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s services may have just aided the Detroit Pistons by dropping out.

Among the greatest concerns for the Detroit Pistons as they prepare to deal with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s restricted free agency are teams with needs at shooting guard and obscene amounts of cap space. While the Brooklyn Nets loom large, it appears another team who could have made life difficult has dropped out.

On Saturday afternoon the Philadelphia 76ers signed J.J. Redick to a one-year contract worth $23 million, per Woj.

While the Sixers were never as vocal as the Nets have been about making a hard charge for KCP, it’s good for the Pistons to likely get one of these teams off the market for his services. The two guard spot was an area of great need for the Sixers last season, and they’ve upgraded significantly with one of the best shooting veteran twos in the NBA. The Sixers still have about $27 million in cap space left, but it’s not likely they want to tie up $50 million this season in Redick and KCP.

While next year they’ll be back on the market with money burning a hole in their pocket, that won’t be the Pistons’ problem then.

Next: Locked On Pistons - A Chauncey Billups breakdown

In the meantime, the Pistons just have to hope that the Brooklyn Nets are pleased enough with their acquisition of D’Angelo Russell in the days leading up to the draft to move on from their interest in KCP. However, per Marc Stein, that’s not likely to happen.