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A look at the Pistons’ salary situation

By Duncan Smith

AUBURN HILLS, MI - APRIL 05: Head coach Stan Van Gundy of the Detroit Pistons talks with his team during a time out while playing the Toronto Raptors at the Palace of Auburn Hills on April 5, 2017 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Toronto won the game 105-102. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
AUBURN HILLS, MI - APRIL 05: Head coach Stan Van Gundy of the Detroit Pistons talks with his team during a time out while playing the Toronto Raptors at the Palace of Auburn Hills on April 5, 2017 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Toronto won the game 105-102. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Pistons’ salary outlook has changed drastically following the trade of Marcus Morris to the Boston Celtics for Avery Bradley.

Just over a day ago, the Detroit Pistons were just $17 million away from the hard cap, waiting for the dreaded Brooklyn Nets offer sheet that would pay Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the max of $24.75 million this season. In order to make this salary work, the Pistons would have to slash over $7 million from the payroll, necessitating the departure of at least one player for no return other than space under the hard cap.

Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Bower decided that wasn’t a favorable situation, so they traded Marcus Morris to the Boston Celtics for Avery Bradley and a second round draft pick. This solved both the Celtics’ need to clear salary to sign Gordon Hayward, and it allowed the Pistons a solution to their own glaring problem.

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Now that Morris’ $5 million is off the books, KCP’s $9 million cap hold is gone (the Pistons renounced their rights to him shortly after the trade, making him an unrestricted free agent) and Avery Bradley’s $8.8 million salary has been added, the Pistons have $110.7 million in salary on the books for the coming season with 13 players rostered. They are about $8.5 million dollars shy of the luxury tax, and they’re $14.5 million shy of the tax apron (which also functions as a hard cap for the Pistons this season) for the 2017-18 season.

The Pistons can add one more player to the active roster, in addition to two two-way contracts. Now that they’ve already used more than $5.2 million of the $8.4 million mid-level exception due to Langston Galloway’s $6.7 million first year salary, they can use the remaining $1.7 million of the MLE without further penalty. Because they already have a hard cap status, they can also use their $3.29 million bi-annual exception. The only negative to using the BAE is that the apron turns into a hard cap, but the Pistons are already there, so it should be in play.

They also have an $874,000 trade exception thanks to the trade of Darrun Hilliard to the Houston Rockets as they cleared space to acquire Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Next: Pistons moves benefit youngsters

Now that the Detroit Pistons have avoided the huge salary KCP would likely command, they have just $75 million tied up this season among their top five salaries. If KCP got the max, their top five salaries would have been over $91 million with most of it locked in through the rest of the decade.

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