Pistons’ Twitter Mailbag: The Ayton risk, Josh Hart, Zion and more
Detroit Pistons’ Twitter mailbag: Reader questions about the offseason
Say the Pistons just play out Grants expiring contract and at the end of next season just release Olynyk, & CoJo to create an additional 40 Million in cap space.
— Casey Hilts (@CaseyHilts1) April 16, 2022
Would it be worth any risk to go after a UFA they call the Joker, or another best fit FA.
This an interesting question, as the 2023 NBA free agent class is not only loaded with star power but is far deeper, so you could make an argument that the Pistons should just sit on their cap and wait it out.
With guys like Bradley Beal and Nikola Jokic potentially hitting unrestricted free agency, the Pistons could position themselves to be a player for a star if they just stayed patient this offseason.
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However, that comes with some huge problems. The first is that you’d have the Jerami Grant issue hanging over the entire season again. To get his cap slot free, the Pistons would either have to trade him without taking back any money (not easy to do, as there has to be a team that wants him and has the cap space to absorb the contract) or let him walk for nothing.
Let’s face it, Jokic is not likely to come to Detroit, so you’d be losing your best trade asset for nothing for the minute chance that you can lure a top free agent to a team that no longer looks as attractive.
That’s a long way of saying, no, I do not think it would be worth the risk. If the Detroit Pistons don’t re-sign Jerami Grant, he will be traded.