Unlike its football counterpart, NBA teams have to use almost all of their salary cap space in a given season. The Detroit Pistons have a lot of money to burn, and, in some fashion , it needs to be spent.
While the Pistons, at the moment, have more salary cap space than almost any other NBA team, there will come a time when Detroit will have to fill its space.
In the NFL, teams can roll over unused salary cap dollars to the following year. If the Lions have no one to spend big bucks on, they can hoard their money until the following season. Not in the NBA.
The rule in the collective bargaining agreement is, every team must spend at least 90% of that season’s salary cap.
Hoops Rumors Glossary phrased it well:
"There is a specific threshold on the lower end that teams must meet in each NBA season. The league’s minimum salary floor requires a club to spend at least 90% of the salary cap on player salaries. For instance, with the 2021/22 cap set at $112,414,000, the salary floor for this season is $101,173,000."
This rule has brought some odd circumstances.
Oklahoma City once paid a foreign player who was arriving late into the season $15 million, just so they could reach the salary cap floor.
J.J. Redick, the former three-point shooting specialist now on ESPN, signed a one-year deal for $23 million dollars with the Philadelphia 76ers, making him one of the highest paid players in the league, for the 2017-18 season. They had so few contracts remaining of any consequence from the Sam Hinkie ‘Process’ era, they had to find ways to reach the floor.
The salary cap for the 2022-2023 season has been set at $122 million. That means every NBA team, Pistons included, have spend at least $109,800,00 in salary in the upcoming year.
The floor rule is why general manager Troy Weaver has done lots of short term deals with players. He has not signed anyone for longer than a three-year contract as a free agent. The salary cap space really needs to be used on the front end, during free agency, draft and off-season trades. The cap flexibility is most important at the beginning of the off-season.
The penalty for not reaching the floor? Not exactly as harsh as like Milwaukee and Miami getting stripped of draft picks for tampering. Simply, the difference in money between the actual salaries and the cap floor is simply divided up among players who were on the roster for a minimum of 41 games.
So, hypothetically, if Detroit spent $105 million on salaries for this season, the players would divvy up $4.8 million between them. Probably why you rarely hear players on non-contending teams complain about their club not spending enough, because they get more money in their pocket if they don’t.
Now, most NBA teams are the opposite, busy figuring out ways to get around the cap, to get better players. But, there are some small market teams, particularly rebuilding ones, that may need to watch how many dollars are spent.
How does the ‘salary floor’ rule affect the Detroit Pistons?
Basically, it puts a time limit on what they can do building the team. There is no major reason for Detroit to save its cap space into the season. They are likely not going to be part of the buyout market.
So that chasm of cap space they currently have needs to go somewhere. Yeah, the players would enjoy a little bonus, but one expects Weaver to try and put that money to good use to help the team.
Since the money spent on salaries is regulated, to keep future options open, Weaver might be giving players one-year deals, or one year with a club option (although somehow Cory Joseph got a player option for Year 2, which he exercised)
Of course, if Detroit inks a big name free agent like Deandre Ayton or Miles Bridges, that cap space is going to be totally used up. The floor rule taken care of.
But remember, the cap space pretty much has to be used anyway. So if you see a flurry of short term deals for players you think are being overpaid, now you know why.