How the Pistons can use expiring contracts to land a star

How the Pistons can use expiring contracts to land a star

Karl-Anthony Towns seems the most likely to be traded, as his contract a whopping $61 million in 2027-28 and it’s pretty clear that he and Rudy Gobert are not the greatest fit. Considering the ‘Wolves gave up so much for Gobert in one of the worst trades in modern NBA history, it’s hard to believe they would then just trade him for what would almost certainly be significantly less.

With the new CBA, we’ve seen teams compelled to dump big salaries in order to avoid stiffer financial penalties and Minnesota may be in the same position. It’s hard to see a team giving up a ton of good assets for a guy like KAT, who is a “star” who has never won anything who yet thinks he the Alpha Dog even though he’s not even the best player on his own team.

Could the Pistons pile up their expiring contracts to land KAT for practically nothing?

I’m sure the ‘Wolves would angle for Bojan Bogdanovic (Joe Harris can’t be traded until the end of August), one of the Pistons young players or some first-round picks, in which case Detroit should walk away.

There may be a better offer out there for Towns, but given his salary, teams are going to leery about giving up much for him, so Minnesota may have to settle for $32 million in expiring deals, a few 2nd-round picks and possible future pick swaps.

Even if the cost were this low, should the Detroit Pistons even consider it?