The Detroit Pistons could choose to operate as a cap space team this offseason, but to get there, they’d have to make some painful cuts.
Detroit can have up to $27.9 million in cap space according to cap guru Keith Smith, who had this to say about the Pistons:
“The Pistons probably won’t go the cap space route. That would mean clearing the books of a lot of guys who are rotation players. Instead, expect Detroit to stay over the cap, but to still have enough room to use the Non-Taxpayer MLE to bring in some talent. Life is good for the league’s most pleasant surprise.”
The last sentence is a sentiment some Pistons “fans” need to embrace. Detroit has a young, talented roster, all of their future draft picks and the financial flexibility to make moves, yet if you go online for 10 seconds (don’t), you’d see a soft parade of people acting like the sky is falling. It isn't. Relax.
Even though the Pistons could clear cap space to pursue free agents, they probably won’t, and there are good reasons why.
The Pistons would have a lot to replace
To get to nearly $28 million in cap space, the Pistons would have to renounce all of the player options and partially guaranteed contracts for next season, which would mean saying goodbye to Daniss Jenkins, Marcus Sasser, Paul Reed and Duncan Robinson without taking any salary back.
That’s a starter, two rotation players and a deep bench guy who didn’t play too badly in the playoffs. None of them are stars, and none are inked as long-term parts of the team, but it’s still a lot to replace, and that amount of cap space isn’t likely enough to move the needle anyway.
There aren’t a lot of free-agent options for the Pistons
Even if the Pistons cleared the max cap space they can get, it’s still not likely enough to snag any of the free agents that would actually move the needle.
Guys like Austin Reaves and Norman Powell are likely to get far more than that in annual salary and the next tier of players (the Ayo Dosunmu’s of the world) would be a reach considering all Detroit would have to give up to clear the space.
I wouldn’t rule anything out, as Trajan Langdon will turn over every stone this summer to add talent, but I tend to agree with Keith Smith here, as there just isn’t that much reason for the Pistons to go that route.
The Pistons aren’t out of options
This doesn’t mean Detroit won’t add talent, as they still have plenty of other ways to do it, including trades, sign-and-trades, the full MLE or renouncing some of these players to get cap space wiggle room without completely gutting the roster.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Detroit renounced Robinson’s partially guaranteed deal and used the cap space for an upgrade.
The Pistons are in a good spot heading into the offseason and should be able to walk away with a stronger roster that is primed to take the next step.
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