Could Ben Simmons land with the Detroit Pistons?
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver always says he stays aggressive and ’empties his clip’ . Getting Ben Simmons would certainly be an aggressive move. How about a backcourt of 6-8 Cade Cunningham and 6-10 Simmons? That would give a lot of teams problems.
There would be two major issues with Simmons coming to the Pistons:
- Detroit is already over the salary cap, so would have to create space to accommodate his contract.
- They already have a point guard who is a poor shooter but good passer and defensive player in Killian Hayes.
Let’s look at each hurdle:
Salary cap
For this year, and this year only, the Pistons have a salary cap problem. How does a team that went 20-52 have so little space in its salary cap? It is called Blake Griffin.
Even though he is with the Nets, Detroit must shell out a significant portion of his old contract this season. Griffin is one of five players whose contracts are ‘dead money’ in the Pistons salary cap. Literally paying something for nothing.
So, even though GM Troy Weaver got very good value on his free agent signings, the Pistons are still, due to the dead money, $11.4 million over the cap for 2021-22, according to Spotrac.
Being over the cap, a straight trade for Simmons from Philly is out of the question. They can not handle the players that Detroit would have to dump, to accept Simmons salary.
Outside of Jerami Grant, Kelly Olynyk and Cade Cunningham, everyone on the team makes less than $6 million for this year. Good negotiating on Weaver’s part but making it hard to absorb one big salary.
A third party with lots of cap space, who is not looking to win this season, and loves to get draft picks would be the perfect facilitator. Oh, that fits Weaver’s old team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, perfectly.
Detroit will have to part with a draft pick, most likely a first-rounder (sort of), but to get a 25-year-old three time All-Star, probably better than what you get with the draft pick.
Here is how a trade could go:
The Thunder are owed a first-round pick by Detroit. They got it from Houston, who had it from the Christian Wood trade. Detroit would simply drop all protections, and the Thunder would get the Pistons first round pick next draft, no matter what.
In actuality, the Pistons would not be giving up an additional first-rounder, just sending what they owe Oklahoma City now. It would certainly be an enticing trade piece, if Oklahoma City chose that route to use it.
As for all the players Detroit would send to the Thunder, they are free to keep them and see if they develop, or cut them. They have the salary cap space to do whatever they want.
Detroit would get Ben Simmons without having to give up Cade Cunningham, Jerami Grant, Kelly Olynyk or Hamidou Diallo. The Pistons immediately jump into playoff contention. Simmons’ main problem has come in the second round of the NBA playoffs, Detroit will be happy to worry about it, if they made the second round.