If Marvin Bagley III is out long, Pistons might have to go shopping

The Detroit Pistons are awaiting news about the injury to Marvin Bagley III after he left last night’s game against the Thunder with an apparent knee injury.

Hopefully it is just a minor sprain and MBIII will be back in the rotation soon, but if he has to miss significant time, Detroit might have to make some changes to the roster. So far, it looks promising, as early indications are that the injuries is not serious:

Once Nerlens Noel is back, the Pistons will still have three centers even without MBIII, but their largess of big men is already dwindling after they traded away Kelly Olynyk and now possibly lose Bagley III for an indefinite amount of time.

Detroit can get by with three centers, but it would leave them dangerously thin, especially if one of the others had to miss time. Noel only played 25 games last season and has yet to suit up in the preseason of this one, so the Pistons may want to weigh their options when it comes to adding another center at some point.

Detroit Pistons: Free-agent centers

Detroit could decide to sign a veteran free-agent and there are still a few on the market with names like Dwight Howard and Hassan Whiteside among others still available.

But this comes with a few challenges, as the Pistons are already over the roster limit until they get rid of Kemba Walker, so would actually have to waive two players to make room on the roster for another center.

Rodney McGruder would be the most likely candidate, but I highly doubt the Pistons want to pay to get rid of McGruder (who is a great veteran bench guy) and then pay another center on top of it.

Detroit Pistons: The two-way contracts

Another option would be to dump Buddy Boeheim and give his two-way contract to a G-League center as a “break in case of emergency” option.

If Detroit does make an addition to the roster, this would probably be the way to do it, as they can cut Boeheim without losing much financially.

But who would that player be? There isn’t an obvious choice on the Motor City Cruise, so the Pistons would likely have to look elsewhere to find a fourth center.

Neither option is very appealing, so right now Detroit is praying that the injury to MBIII isn’t severe and that they won’t have to make any adjustments to the roster.