The Detroit Pistons need a backup for Tobias Harris and have seen two possibilities snatched up early in free agency in Santi Aldama and Jake LaRavia.
Aldama agreed to a three-year deal to stay with the Memphis Grizzlies and LaRavia signed a two-year deal to join the LA Lakers.
The LaRavia deal was a somewhat surprising pass for the Pistons, as he only signed for $12 million for two seasons, right in the range of what Malik Beasley made last season, giving him a chance to be a real bargain.
LaRavia isn’t an All-Star by any stretch, but he’s solid on both ends and would give the Pistons someone with size who can shoot a little to backup Tobias Harris.
LaRavia represents the type of player the Pistons might have to target after their offseason plans were radically changed by the Malik Beasley news.
Detroit Pistons: Free agency on the fly may lead to bargain hunting
I don’t know when the Pistons knew about Beasley, but all indications were that they were going to sign him as soon as free agency started, so they haven’t had much time to change plans on the fly.
With some of their reported targets already off the board, the Pistons will have to turn to the lower tiers of free agency to try and find value. If you aren’t going to get your top guys, then at least don’t overpay for the players that you do get.
The Pistons shouldn’t go nuts and throw a big deal at someone like Caris LeVert, and would better off signing a few smaller deals and hope one of them works out like Beasley did, which is why I am surprised they weren’t in on LaRavia, who seemed to be a fit at the right cost.
There have been a flurry of signings and one big trade (Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson) since I started typing this, so this night is far from over and Trajan Langdon may have bigger ideas up his sleeve.
This isn’t the deepest free agent class though, so Langdon will be exploring the trade market looking for ways to improve a roster that suddenly won’t have one of its top scorers.
Pistons fans are already apocalyptic on social media, and I don’t expect that to change until we see a Shams Tweet that has Detroit in it. This offseason started slow but is now in full gear.