When the Detroit Pistons signed Simone Fontecchio to a 2 year/$16 million contract I thought it was a steal.
Fontecchio was great in 16 games for the Pistons at the end of the 2023-24 season and showed the kind of shooting from the wing they desperately needed.
He hit over 42 percent of his 3-point shots and averaged over 15 points per game, so there was hope that the Pistons had gotten real value for money with his deal.
But then the Pistons signed other veteran shooters that reduced his role, and Fontecchio suffered an injury that required offseason surgery on his foot, which was clearly bothering him at the beginning of this season.
For whatever reason, we never saw the Fontecchio we saw in those 16 games back in 2024, instead, Tek had the worst season of his career. He averaged just 5.9 points in 16.5 minutes per game and only hit an anemic 33 percent of his 3-point shots. When Tek isn’t hitting shots, he’s not doing much else, as he wasn’t a good defender and can’t create off the bounce, in fact, it got to the point where I cringed every time he tried.
Fontecchio never got off the bench in the playoffs and was thoroughly outplayed this season by 19-year-old rookie Ron Holland II.
The Pistons may not be ready or able to make a big trade this summer, but they can improve around the fringes by getting an upgrade for Fontecchio.
Detroit Pistons trades: Simone Fontecchio’s expiring contract
Even though Fontecchio had a down season, he still has trade value as a guy on a very tradable expiring contract.
There will be teams looking to cut money this summer, so the Pistons may be able to flip Fontecchio for an upgrade by taking on more salary than they send out, one way to get better player without using cap space alone.
Teams like the Celtics, Suns, Cavaliers, Timberwolves and Nuggets will be looking for ways to cut money to avoid tax or maintain the ability to bring back their own guys, so there may be opportunity there for the Pistons with Fontecchio’s expiring deal.
Other teams can look at his track record and see he’s been a plus 3-point shooter in the past and at least think they are getting a rotation player along with some financial relief.
A player like Sam Hauser comes to mind, but if the Pistons wanted to think bigger, they could potentially attach draft assets to Fontecchio to get a real upgrade.
The Pistons could also hope to get a bounce-back year from Fontecchio, in which case, his contract could still be a bargain, but it’s a risk when they need better shooting and more size from that spot. Fontecchio isn’t a power forward, so if he’s not going to hit shots, is hard to justify his spot in the rotation, as we saw in the playoffs.
If the Pistons can find a way to upgrade his spot with someone with more size or better shooting, they should.