Detroit Pistons have lots of room to sign free agents, but should they bother?
The Detroit Pistons currently have more projected salary cap space then any team in the NBA going into next season. However, with a weak free agent class, maybe they should wait to use it.
The good news is that the Pistons should have more salary cap space than any other team in the NBA. So they can throw more money at any free agent than anyone else; which is important, as Detroit has, traditionally, not been a major landing spot for free agents.
The bad news is: This is a very weak free agent class.
The question then becomes, would the Pistons be better off not plunging into the free agent market, and holding their money for trades, or even carry it into next season?
Most teams have little cap space, as their long-term deals were negotiated assuming the salary cap would rise. Since, due to the pandemic, the cap has actually gone down, most NBA teams are over the cap, greatly restricting what they can do in the off-season.
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Since general manager Troy Weaver has completely turned over the Pistons roster since he took over two years ago, all the contracts for current players were signed during the pandemic, so the cap not going up was factored in.
Detroit is projected to have $31 million in salary cap space next season, and it could grow to $49 million if Weaver declines all player options and cap holds (which he most likely would not, since valuable players like Hamidou Diallo and Frank Jackson are among them).
This figure goes up even more if either Jerami Grant or Kelly Olynyk are no longer on the roster and they get expiring contracts in return. Grant, Olynyk and Cade Cunningham are the only players who make over $10 million a year.
But the Pistons might have all this money and no one to spend it on. Hopefully, they do not fall into the trap of wasting big contracts on mediocre players, simply because they have it to spend (other Pistons front offices seemed to specialize in that).
Let’s look at the three options inthe off-season for Detroit to spend its largesse on: Unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents and trades.