While Blake Griffin has physically moved on from the Detroit Pistons, most of his massive contract still counts on his former team’s salary cap. This does limit the moves general manager Troy Weaver can make in the off-season.
When teams finish with the second-worst record in the NBA, usually words like ‘sweeping change’ and ‘ready to make big moves’ are used in the post-season press conferences by team management.
However, the day after the season, general manager Troy Weaver was more muted in his comments. He phrased things for the Pistons as ‘not many roster spots available’ and ‘improving in-house.
A team that just went 20-52 basically standing pat is an unusual strategy. However, there are two unusual factors involving the Pistons:
- Detroit just went through a massive roster overhaul. Only one player from last year’s team, Sekou Doumbouya, survived to the end of the season. Many of the newcomers were promising young players.
- The Pistons salary cap situation for next season is not optimum.
Usually teams that are bad have gobs of salary cap space. No point in paying players a lot of money when you are not winning.
But the Detroit Pistons are in that weird situation of losing lots of games, and not having a lot of cap space.
(all salary cap info courtesy Spotrac.com)
Counting everything, guaranteed contracts, dead money and cap holds, the Pistons are about $31 million OVER next season’s projected salary cap of around $112 million.
This is not a talent evaluation of who should stay or go. It’s a consideration of the financial implications of who does stay or go. Also, discovering what is at this point, totally outside of the Pistons control.
So how did Detroit get in this situation? Breaking it down, the answer is pretty simple: The Ghost of Blake Griffin’s contract still haunts the Pistons.
Detroit Pistons salary cap problems: How did we get here?
So how is a team filled with rookies, or those still on their rookie contracts, end up being $30 million over the salary cap? Well, it’s complicated.
First, there is $39 million in ‘cap holds’ for players who are free agents. This includes players from rookie Saben Lee, who Detroit almost definitely wants to return, to a Dennis Smith Jr. (at a whopping $17 million hold) who is doubtful to come back.
The cap holds are merely placeholders. They do not count towards the Luxury Tax and renouncing them does not add any additional cap space, since Detroit is over-the-cap (so weird to write that about a team that went 20-52).
If Lee and others like Wayne Ellington, Frank Jackson and, importantly, Hamidou Diallo do sign new contracts with Detroit, their cap holds will end and their real salary will be counted. When a player signs with another team, the cap hold also terminates.
Diallo is expected to have interest from other clubs. It will take a decent offer to retain him. He is coming off a rookie contract that only paid him a little over $1.6 million for this past season. Diallo will get a lot more than that.
The good news is that Diallo is a restricted free agent, so the Pistons can retain him by matching another team’s offer. How high that offer may go is one of the big questions of the off-season.
Players with Pistons optionality
The biggest part of Detroit’s salary cap, unsurprisingly, are the contracts of players actually on the team – about $71 million.
However, of the 12 players on the roster with contracts for the 2021-22 season, three of them are not fully guaranteed.
Tyler Cook has no guaranteed money for next season, and Rodney McGruder and Cory Joseph each have team options that, if not picked up, would cost Detroit very little (McGruder nothing, Joseph $2.4 million).
If all three were let go, Detroit would save about $20 million in cap space. Of course, Weaver and coach Dwane Casey might want to keep all three. Weaver has stated he wants veterans on the team.
Since coming over from Sacramento in the Delon Wright trade, Joseph has played well. Almost too well, as his fine play keyed a late-season win over the Memphis Grizzlies that almost cost Detroit some lottery positioning.
McGruder has been a team leader and a good utility guard for Casey. Cook was impressive after being picked up late in the season for his hustle and grit.
So the Pistons have some optionality with those three. Could keep them all, get rid of them all, or keep a couple. Another thing to watch during the off-season.
Now, when it comes to Dead Money, the ghost of Blake Griffin’s contract looms large.
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:
- 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.
- 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.