The Detroit Pistons entered last offseason with copious amounts of cap space, just like in this one.
In fact, last offseason, Detroit had more cap space than anyone, which put them in rumors for just about every free agent.
The biggest rumor of the offseason was that the Detroit Pistons were going to make a max offer to center Deandre Ayton. It made some sense, as at the time they didn’t really have a big man and Ayton was the right age and has the right skillset to fill the need.
He’s good in the pick-and-roll, can rebound and defend the position, so there were a lot of fans who were hoping the Pistons would make the splashy move.
Instead, it was the Pacers who made the big offer that the Suns had to trump to keep their big man, and they did, giving him a whopping 4 years/$132 million contract that at the time made him the second-highest paid player on the team behind teammate Devin Booker.
Ayton had another typically solid season this year, averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds even though his shooting and block numbers were down.
But it was his play in game 1 of the playoffs (a loss to the Clippers) that has Suns’ fans feeling buyer’s remorse and Pistons’ fans feeling like the team got lucky to miss out.
Detroit Pistons: Missing out on Deandre Ayton worked out well
First off, Ayton is a good player who is still only 24-years-old, so the (let’s face it, awful) Suns’ fans crying for his head are being hyperbolic.
Ayton played big minutes in 67 games this season and did his job. He wasn’t able to single-handedly keep the Clippers off the offensive boards in one playoff game, but if you only looked at Twitter you’d think the guy was a bum.
But I thought the Pistons dodged a bullet last year and said so, not because Ayton is not good or not a fit, but because they ended up landing Jalen Duren, who is 19-years-old, and looks like he will give the team similar production.
Duren is on a rookie deal, and there is a good chance he’ll be near Ayton’s numbers next season while the Suns’ center is making over $30 million. Signing Ayton would have limited the Pistons’ ability to go after a wing this offseason, which was their primary need last offseason and still is.
I said it last year and it still holds true: You can’t pay max money to a center in the modern NBA unless he is a superstar, and as solid as Ayton is, he’s not a superstar. For the most part (MVP candidates aside) this is a league dominated by guards and wings, so teams have to be careful how they allocate their resources when it comes to centers.
Of course, the Detroit Pistons now have four of them if you count Isaiah Stewart as a center, but all four will be making a combined $34.1 million next season and that’s if the Pistons can’t find a trade partner for Marvin Bagley III.
In the end, the Pistons missed out on a solid player, but came out ahead financially by not landing Deandre Ayton.