Detroit Pistons' cap space after busy trade deadline

When Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores said change was coming, I honestly didn't expect much, as we've heard thsse lines before.

But the Pistons made good on their promise, swapping out eight players over the last month, including a trade deadline in which the Pistons were the most active team in the NBA.

We can argue whether the Pistons got any better, but they at least found more complementary pieces to put around their young core and didn't take on any bad contracts.

They maintained their legendary financial flexibility and opened up even more cap space, but how much, and will it matter?

Detroit Pistons' cap space after the trade deadline

I always turn to Keith Smith for all things cap-related, so here is where the Pistons stand after a busy trade deadline:

Depending on what Philadelphia does, the Pistons are likely to have the first or second most amount of cap space to spend in free agency.

They are off any future obligations to Bojan Bogdanovic and will now have upwards of $61 million in future cap space to spend this summer.

Detroit Pistons in free agency

Cap space is worth less than ever in an era in which stars rarely change teams except via trade. Most of the top players know they can sign max deals with their current teams, and if they want out, all they have to do is demand a trade. They can get where they want to go anyway without losing any money.

The Pistons will likely spend some of their cap space re-signing Simone Fontecchio, as they have already made it clear they intend to make him part of their future.

They could also extend Quentin Grimes, who is on a team-friendly deal for next season. Neither of these players is going to get huge deals, but they will eat up some of the space.

Even after signing these two players, the Pistons should have plenty of space to make a max offer to someone, make a big trade in which they take back more money or spread it around to multiple mid-level role players.

The 2024 free agency class isn't great, so it's debatable whether there will be anyone available who moves the needle for the Pistons and is worthy of a max or near-max deal. Tobias Harris is a name we've heard mentioned a lot and he will be one of the top targets.

The Pistons still need forward depth and adding another consistent scoring threat would be nice, even though they will likely have to overpay to get him.

If they were to sign Harris, there might still be some money to fill out the rest of the roster with good, not great role players. Bringing back Mike Muscala, who has helped the Pistons' bench, is a definite option.

That's a team that would at least be competitive in the Eastern Conference, with a nice mixture of shooters and defenders, though it would still be nice to add a rim-protecting center and a veteran point guard.

The Detroit Pistons started the job at the trade deadline, but they still have a lot of work to do to finish it