1 restricted free agent separating himself, but is he worth it for Pistons?
The Detroit Pistons have to use their cap space wisely
The Detroit Pistons will be one of the only teams with cap space this offseason, and the NBA free agent crop is thin, which can be a dangerous position to be in.
The Pistons may only get one shot to land a big-time free agent, so they have to spend their money wisely and can’t just splash out on a guy because he is available.
The good news is that the Pistons don’t have any bad contracts on their books after this season and Cade Cunningham won’t be getting his raise until he (hopefully) signs his rookie extension.
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By the time that season comes around, the Pistons will only have seven guys under contract, and that’s if they pick up the team options on Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart, Saddiq Bey, Saben Lee and Isaiah Livers.
The Pistons cap sheet is as clean as just about any in the NBA (barring all the dead money), so unlike the Hornets, they don’t have big money tied up in anyone at the moment, so they can most certainly take on Miles Bridges max deal, especially if they end up trading Jerami Grant, which would almost be a certainty in this scenario.
Other than Cade Cunningham, I can’t see any other Pistons player getting a max deal, so they’d have his contract and Bridges’ staggered and hopefully Bey and Stewart locked up to much lower numbers.
The financial part of this wouldn’t be a problem for the Detroit Pistons, so the next question is whether a foundation of Cade Cunningham, Miles Bridges, Saddiq Bey and the 2022 draft pick is good enough to win in the Eastern Conference.