The Detroit Pistons have reportedly signed San Antonio Spurs restricted free agent Boban Marjanovic to an offer sheet, according to Marc Stein on Twitter.
It appears the Detroit Pistons aren’t quite done with free agency, or at least they’re hoping not to be done. Thursday morning ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted that the Pistons have signed San Antonio Spurs’ restricted free agent center Boban Marjanovic to an offer sheet.
Detroit is signing Spurs restricted free agent Boban Marjanovic to a three-year, $21 million offer sheet, according to league sources
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 7, 2016
Thanks to being capped out after signing Pau Gasol to a contract to a two-year deal worth more than $30 million, the Spurs don’t appear to be willing or able to match.
The Spurs, league sources say, are resigned to losing fan favorite Boban Marjanovic, unable to match Detroit's offer sheet
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 7, 2016
The current teams of restricted free agents have matching rights to offer sheets, meaning that if the Spurs could scrape together the money to equal what the Pistons offered Marjanovic, he would remain under the Spurs control. If the Spurs cannot, as appears to be the case, then he will go to the offering team.
Assuming both reports from Stein are correct, this means that Marjanovic is about to become a Piston. In addition, the Spurs have just signed center DeWayne Dedmon, making it that much more of a lock that this will be a done deal.
Free agent center Dewayne Dedmon has agreed to a two-year, $6 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 7, 2016
Marjanovic was a rookie last season, but he’s going to be 28 by the time training camp starts. He played just 9.4 minutes per game in his 54 appearances, averaging 5.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, but his per 36 numbers stand out. He averaged 21 points and 13.7 rebounds per 36, while shooting 60.3 percent from the floor and 76.3 percent from the free throw line.
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Marjanovic is an absolute giant, standing at 7-foot-3 and weighing in at 290 lbs, which means that a team that was undersized everywhere outside of centers Andre Drummond and Aron Baynes has just taken another step towards being a humongous team. Marjanovic joins rookie Henry Ellenson and free agent signing Jon Leuer as big men new to the team since the draft and free agency period began.