The Detroit Pistons have a promising core of players that they drafted in Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, Ron Holland and Isaiah Stewart, but keeping them all isn’t going to be easy, something a recent suggestion from NBA GMs could change.
A poll of NBA GMs named “Roster construction” as the rule that most needs to change, citing that the new tax rules were too harsh.
I always find this stuff funny, as both the league and the players cut the new CBA and agreed to all of these rules that they are now complaining are overly punitive. Didn’t any of you see this coming?
The new tax rules were put in place to help promote parity, and they have, as we’ve seen seven different NBA champions in the last seven seasons.
But they’ve had unintended consequences as well, making it more difficult for teams to keep rosters together and to retain their own guys. We saw it all summer as non-All-Star level players were having a hard time getting the big contracts they thought were coming to them.
I do agree with NBA GMs that there are ways to tweak this so that teams don’t get punished for drafting well, something that may happen to the Pistons soon.
The Detroit Pistons roster is about to get expensive
NBA GMs suggested that the NBA “add a tax discount for own drafted players” which seems like a good compromise to the current tax crunch.
Teams like OKC, who drafted most of their current players, already know there are going to be tough decisions in their future if they pan out, as you can’t pay everyone on your roster $30 million a year.
The Pistons have tough decisions of their own with Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren eligible for extensions (for 10 more days at least) and deals for Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland looming.
We are either going to see players in the Ivey/Duren tier (promising but not yet stars) take huge pay cuts on their second contracts, or teams will have to trade them or risk losing the players for nothing in free agency. It's a tough spot for teams and makes it risky to buy into the potential of your own players.
I like the idea of getting a cap discount if you drafted the player, as continuity has been missing from the NBA for a long time. The NBA used to have much better rivalries, as the same guys were on the same teams for most of their careers and played each other year after year in the playoffs.
Players constantly switching teams reduces fan interest in the actual games and cools some of the historic rivalries, as it’s a different team from year to year.
The NBA can still promote parity and balance outlandish free-agent spending without making it prohibitive for teams to retain the players they have drafted and letting them grow as a roster.