Detroit Pistons free agency: Waiting for Hamidou

While the NBA free agency date to actually sign contracts is approaching, the Detroit Pistons are still waiting to see what its biggest free agent, Hamidou Diallo, is going to do. He has options.

While the media world has been filled with news of the latest NBA free agent signings, one corner of those needing a new contract has been very quiet: the Detroit Pistons own free agents.

They club took care of what they needed to do on July 31 for the ones they want back:

Giving them the qualifying offer means that the Pistons can keep Diallo, Jackson and Lee by matching any offer sheet they get from another team. Now, the players needed to go get other teams to offer them contracts.

Of course, with the knowledge that Detroit can simply match whatever offer they make, NBA teams might put their efforts into players they have a better chance of getting.

The salary cap has little effect in this instance, since they are negotiating with their own players. That, of course, makes coaxing an offer sheet from another team even more difficult.

That is not to say restricted free agents do not change teams. Lonzo Ball was a restricted free agent with the Pelicans and engineered a sign and trade to the Chicago Bulls.

The one weapon a player has in restricted free agency is, if they sign the qualifying offer, they will become an unrestricted free agent the following year. Of course, injuries, or a bad year, could occur, so few players like to gamble on themselves in that way. It is much better if they can come to an agreement they are OK with either their own team or a new one.

Jackson and Lee were two-way players for the Pistons last year. They both came on strong at the end of last season. Lee and Jackson definitely showed enough promise where Detroit wants to have them return. However, they most likely did not attract enough attention where another NBA would want to break the bank to get them away from Detroit with a big offer.

Considering Jackson and Lee, as two-ways players, were paid below the NBA minimum, it would not take a huge offer to lock each of them up.

How high will Hamidou Diallo go?

Diallo is in a different situation.

A 6-foot-5 uber-athletic wing, Detroit traded for Diallo on March 13 for Svi Mykhailiuk and a future second-round draft pick. He played 20 games for the Pistons, starting four, and averaged 11.2 points and 5.4 rebounds.

Diallo’s main problem on offense in his career has been three-point shooting. He was only making 29.2 percent of his threes with the Thunder before the trade. However, although driving to the hoop is how he gets most of his points, Diallo knocked down 39% of his three-point attempts with Detroit. If he can continue to shoot threes near that rate, his value skyrockets.

Diallo’s main forte is defense. With his size and athletic ability, Diallo can be a defensive stalwart. Pistons coach Dwane Casey mentioned many times last season how is looking for the team to improve defensively in the future. Having Diallo for the full season would help Casey’s goal.

Having just turned 23-years-old, Diallo should be prized by many NBA teams. Who would not want a young player with lots of upside, who can shoot from outside and be a lock-down defender?

The Detroit Pistons have competition for Hamidou Diallo in free agency

How badly other NBA teams want Diallo is the question. Most NBA teams, following the first couple of free agency, are out of salary cap space.

While the number of potential suiters dwindling who could offer a good contract, the pool of available talent is also going down. Teams still looking to make a splash, could turn to Diallo.

Teams will need to create an offer sheet the Pistons would not want to match. In the past, teams have inserted a ‘poison pill’ into the contract. That is when a team structures a contract where, to match, the other team would hurt its future salary structure.

Things publicly have been very quiet on the Diallo front.  Which probably means there is a lot of back and forth between Diallo’s agents, the Pistons and other interested NBA teams.

Detroit has been busy gathering unrestricted free agents, using their cap space. They do not need that with Diallo. But you can be sure that general manager Troy Weaver has been in constant contact with Diallo’s agents during all of this.

After a bit, it becomes almost waiting game.

Diallo is waiting for offers from other teams, and seeing how enticing they are. The Pistons have, undoubtedly, made a long terms contract offer to Diallo (best guess, four years, $42 million)

Detroit is waiting to find out if they need to match an offer sheet, have Diallo accept their contract offer or if Diallo intends to sign the qualifying offer, and strike out next year as an unrestricted free agent.

On all sides, Diallo, Pistons and the rest of the NBA, there seems to be a lot of waiting for a shoe to drop. The faster someone decides to drop the shoe and go into action, the waiting game will come to an end.