Detroit Pistons salary cap haunted by ghost of Blake Griffin’s contract

The Ghost of Blake Griffin and when will the Detroit Pistons have cap space?

The Detroit Piston are officially $31 million over the cap, which includes $34 million in ‘dead money’.

It does not take an analytical genius to figure out  the Pistons would be under the cap (not by a lot, but still under) if not for that.

Of the dead money, all but a small amount is from one contract: Blake Griffin.

Although he was bought out on March 4, Griffin will still count for $29.8 million on next season’s cap. That is 20.65% of the Pistons’ cap space, on a player no longer with the team.

There are two things to understand about this situation:

1. Griffin’s contract came with him when Coach/GM Stan Van Gundy traded for him from the Clippers. The Detroit organization (since entirely replaced) understood this was part of the deal.
2. As part of the buyout, Griffin agreed to give up $13 million in salary. He is still owed a bunch, but passing on $13 mill is nothing to sneeze at.

Counting the stretched-out contracts of the released Dewayne Dedmon and Zhaire Smith (who should have been kept, IMO), a full 23-percent of the Pistons cap room for next season are from players not on the team.

This is the major reason to expect the Pistons won’t be major players in the free agent market this summer. The money simply is not available.

Now, the following off-season, the Summer of 2022, is a whole different situation.

Hey big spenders, Detroit Pistons have money to burn in 2022.

While Detroit has salary cap issues this season that hamstring efforts to make major improvements, outside of the draft, it is a one-year problem.

The Pistons, as of now, have only two players guaranteed money for the 2022-23 season: Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee. They will make a combined $30 million in the final year of the three-year deals each inked last summer.

That does not mean GM Troy Weaver is cutting every player except those two at the end of next year. It’s just Plumlee and Grant are the only ones, right now, that must be paid their salaries for 2022-23.

Team options on first round picks, Saddiq Bey, Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart, will undoubtedly be picked up in the fall, giving them all guaranteed salaries for 2022-23.

It would also be surprising if multi-year deals were not made with Saben Lee and Hamiduo Diallo this summer, further eating up some cap.

So, the Pistons will not have some insane amount like $90 million of open salary cap space in the summer of 2022. But they will have enough to make some splashy moves; be a player on the free agent market, or maybe pull off some big trades.

So remember, the Ghost of Blake Griffin’s contract will only haunt the Detroit Pistons for one more year.