The Detroit Pistons will be one of the teams with cap space to spend when NBA free agency opens for business this summer.
After a disappointing drop to 5th in the 2023 NBA Draft, the Pistons’ offseason will be a little trickier to navigate for Troy Weaver. The dreams of building around a Victor Wembanyama/Cade Cunningham duo are gone, but the Pistons still have a lot of ways to improve.
There will still be good wing players available for the Pistons with the 5th pick and they also have the 31st to try and land a rotation player or a young talent with high upside. And Detroit has the cap space to go after an impact free agent or two, or to use to swing a trade.
The player they draft with the 5th pick will obviously have an impact on the players they pursue in free agency, and the Detroit Pistons won’t have long to formulate their plans.
Detroit Pistons: When does NBA free agency start?
The 2023 NBA Draft will be held on June 22nd and then teams will turn their attention towards free agency.
According to the NBA website:
"“Starting at 6 p.m. ET on June 30, teams may negotiate deals with free agents. However, those players cannot officially sign until 12:01 p.m. ET on July 6.”"
So teams basically have a week after the draft to start “unofficially negotiating” with free agents before the frenzy starts on June 30th.
There are some marquee names available this summer, some with ties to Troy Weaver, but it’s still unclear if the Pistons plan to use the bulk of their cap space on one guy or to spread it around and try to build depth.
The roster is a big question mark right now but in a month the Detroit Pistons will have a new top-5 draft pick and will be headed into free agency with money to spend and an agenda to build a competitive team, so it won’t be long until we see Troy Weaver’s vision for this team start to take shape.