The Detroit Pistons seem content to head into this season with an open roster spot and financial flexibility, but there may be opportunity to take advantage of teams looking to cut money.
NBA franchises are trying to avoid the second tax apron, not because of the financial penalties but because it limits what they can do in trades. Depending on where teams are on the financial scale, they may not be able to aggregate salaries or take back more money than they send out.
Some teams are just expensive and bad and may not want to be both.
Other teams have roster crunches that may force them to trade interesting players before the season, and there are two cases that stand out as ones the Pistons might be able to take advantage of.
New York Knicks
The Knicks are a team that may have to make a move sooner rather than later if they want to keep the veterans they added this offseason.
If the Knicks want to keep both Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamet, they will likely have to trade one of their former draft picks, Tyler Kolek and Pacome Dadiet.
If they were able to shed the latter’s salary, the Knicks could also add a 15th player during the season, which they may want to do, considering it is championship or bust for New York.
Kolek is an interesting point guard prospect the Pistons could probably have for free and add another developmental player at an important position. Kolek is a true facilitator, which the Pistons don’t currently have in their backup ranks.
The Knicks are already shopping Dadiet and have reportedly gotten interest from several teams, which is not surprising, as he is a big wing who should at least be a 3-and-D contributor at some point in his career.
Dadiet has great size and would offer a higher ceiling than any of the wing players the Pistons currently have on two-way deals or in the G-League.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns are trying to reset around Devin Booker after their “Big 3” experiment was a miserable failure.
Even after trading Kevin Durant, the Suns have no first-round draft picks and only three future second-round picks. They could be one of the “expensive and bad” teams and they don’t have many ways out other than to trade Devin Booker, a possibility we’ve discussed ad nauseam.
But if the Pistons are looking for additional shooting at some point next season, Grayson Allen could be an option, as he is an elite shooter who is plug and play on pretty much any team.
The issue the Pistons may have is his contract, which extends for two more seasons after this one and has a player option at the end of it. Trajan Langdon has shown reluctance to make that kind of commitment to a role player, but Allen will be one of the elite shooters likely on the market in February.