The Detroit Pistons ticked one of their administrative boxes today by making the qualifying offer to Marvin Bagley III.
This is not a surprise, but now the question turns to what it means for his future in Detroit and what it might signify about his next contract.
The Detroit Pistons have tendered a $7.2M qualifying offer to make Marvin Bagley III a restricted free agent on July 1, a league source tells @spotrac.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 28, 2022
By making the qualifying offer, MBIII become a restricted free agent the beginning of July. If they hadn’t made the offer by today, he would have become unrestricted which would certainly lessen the chances that he returns.
Today will be a big day for the Pistons, as they have to make decisions on several other players including Hamidou Diallo, Frank Jackson and Luka Garza.
So what does this mean about his potential future with the Detroit Pistons?
Detroit Pistons: What does Marvin Bagley III’s qualifying offer mean?
Making the $7.2 million qualifying offer to Marvin Bagley III means a couple of things for the Detroit Pistons.
The QO makes it far more likely that Bagley III will return, and that the Pistons will sign him early in free agency.
Until they sign him to a new deal, he will have a $28 million cap hold that Detroit does not want hanging over their heads in free agency.
Chances are a deal is already worked out to bring Bagley III back and now we’ll just have to wait and see the details.
I am just taking a guess here, but based on his production, past injury issues and need to rebuild his value, I’d say it would benefit both sides to keep the deal at three years or fewer.
If Detroit could keep his annual salary somewhere around the QO, he could end up being one of the best value deals in the league. But I think he’ll probably get a bit more, and think the final deal will be somewhere in the 3 years/$24 million range.
This would allow Bagley III, who is still just 23-years-old, a chance to succeed on an up-and-coming team that has a big hole at his position, so there should be plenty of minutes for him. He will still be in his prime at the end of the contract, and if he plays well, would still have a chance to sign at least one more big deal, maybe two.
Chances are that the Detroit Pistons will ink this early in free agency so that they can move on to their other free-agent targets.