Detroit Pistons roster: With 19 players signed, who is the odd man out?

The Detroit Pistons re-signed Rodney McGruder to a reported one year deal yesterday, bringing their roster up to 19 players under contract.

That includes the two-way contracts, so when you take those away, the Pistons still have 17 guys inked for next season, two more than they are allowed to have.

Teams are allowed to carry extra players in the offseason as they make trades and add free agents, so Detroit doesn’t have to make a move right away.

But one is coming, which begs the question of which guy is going to be left off the final roster.

Detroit Pistons roster: Who is the odd man out?

As of right now, here is the Pistons’ roster, not including two-way players Buddy Boeheim and Braxton Key:

• Cade Cunningham
• Jaden Ivey
• Jalen Duren
• Saddiq Bey
• Isaiah Stewart
• Marvin Bagley III
• Killian Hayes
• Cory Joseph
• Hamidou Diallo
• Kelly Olynyk
• Nerlens Noel
• Isaiah Livers
• Alec Burks
• Saben Lee
• Kevin Knox
• Rodney McGruder
• Kemba Walker

The first subtraction will likely be Kemba Walker, who is still technically on the roster, but is expected to be bought out at some point.

That still leaves one extra player, which is why the Rodney McGruder signing is so strange. There really wasn’t any reason to add him to the roster unless the Detroit Pistons already had another move in mind because at first glance, he’d clearly be the guy left off the final roster.

It’s possible the Pistons just wanted to create more competition or to have another veteran for training camp, but it’s also possible that Troy Weaver has other moves planned and knows there is going to be a spot free on the roster.

Kevin Knox seems like a potential waste of a roster spot given his position and unclear path to minutes, but his deal has been finalized, so he is here to stay for now.

Someone is going to have to go, and while the obvious choices are the two guys at the bottom of the list, Troy Weaver could certainly have more moves up his sleeve, so stay tuned.