The longest saga of the offseason for the Detroit Pistons finally came to an end when the sign-and-trade of Dennis Schroder to the Kings was completed yesterday.
There had been ample speculation around the move after it was announced that Schroder had signed a three year deal to join Sacramento. First it was the possibility of Malik Monk but that turned out to be smoke, even though the Pistons could have easily absorbed his salary in the deal.
Instead, the Pistons will take back a $14.3 million player exception according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
This wasn’t exciting for many fans that were hoping for a player coming to Detroit in the deal, but the TPE opens up flexibility for the Pistons to sign a player or make a trade over the next year.
And there was one detail of the trade that almost guarantees the Pistons will be making a move this summer.
Detroit Pistons: Another trade is coming
The Pistons gave up a second-round pick in the deal, which is a sign that they plan to use the TPE to sign a player. Teams often get these exceptions and never use them, something that was the hallmark of the Troy Weaver era when the Pistons sat on exceptions that they didn’t use.
It seems unlikely Detroit would give up draft assets of any kind to get this exception if they didn’t plan on using it, so it’s likely there is more to come this summer.
Even if not, the Pistons have all of next season to use the exception, so it sets them up for a big deal at the deadline, especially when you consider they now have several contracts they could potentially stack together to match salaries in a trade.
Fans have been patiently waiting for this sign-and-trade to be completed and won’t be overly thrilled with the results, but the PIstons were losing Schroder anyway, so to get back this kind of financial flexibility is a big win for Trajan Langdon.
With the free-agent market drying up, Detroit could now turn to trades to fill out their roster and potentially add size, depth and shooting off the bench, which is the last piece they are missing.
Whether that move comes soon or at the trade deadline, the Pistons didn’t give up a draft pick just to sit on this exception. They are going to use it, it’s just a matter of when.