For the Detroit Pistons, the focus has long been on a future that has yet to come.
They’ve been terrible for five straight seasons and at the end of each of them fans were promised better days were coming.
We’ve been sold words like “development” and “financial flexibility” on a constant infomercial from a front office that didn’t have much else to sell considering the team was consistently the worst in the league.
So, when I tell you that the Pistons current payroll is set up for maximum flexibility, I don’t expect it to offer any solace, but guess what?
Detroit Pistons 2024-25 payroll and beyond
Here is the full Pistons’ payroll minus the two-way players but including the dead money.
Player | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|
Tobias Harris | $25,365,854 | $26,634,146 | |
Tim Hardaway Jr. | $16,193,183 | ||
Isaiah Stewart | $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 |
Cade Cunningham | $13,940,809 | $38,661,750 | $41,754,690 |
Ausar Thompson | $8,376,000 | $8,775,000 | $11,117,925* |
Ron Holland II | $8,245,320 | $8,657,280 | $9,069,600* |
Jaden Ivey | $7,977,240 | $10,107,163* | |
Paul Reed | $7,723,000 | $8,109,150 | |
Simone Fontecchio | $7,692,308 | $8,307,692 | |
Malik Beasley | $6,000,000 | ||
Jalen Duren | $4,536,840 | $6,483,144* | |
Marcus Sasser | $2,755,080 | $2,886,720* | $5,198,983* |
Wendell Moore Jr. | $2,537,040 | $4,574,283* | |
DeWayne Dedmon | $2,748,674 |
*Indicates a team option
As you can see, Detroit’s team payroll offers challenges as well as opportunities.
The biggest challenge will be the upcoming salaries of young players. Next year will be the final season of Cade Cunningham on a rookie deal, as he’ll make just $13.9 million next season, 4th-highest on the team, which is great value for its best player.
That won’t last, as Cade’s salary shoots up to $38 million in 2025-26 and that’s when things start to get real.
Both Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren will also be extension-eligible next summer and Ausar Thompson the summer after that, so the Pistons will have to juggle these assets and future salaries to end up with the best possible deals or returns in trades.
It will be interesting to see if either Ivey or Duren actually get an extension next summer or if the Pistons trade them or make them play out their final year before becoming restricted free agents. If the team isn’t sure, there is no reason to commit, as they will still have team control over their restricted free agency.
Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley are on expiring contracts that will yield over $22 million in cap space at the end of next season, which will help, and the Pistons also have a $4.5 million team option on Wendell Moore Jr. that will likely add to that total when they don’t exercise it or use Moore Jr. in a trade.
It’s easy to see that Langdon is setting up for 2026-27, when he currently only has two guaranteed contracts on the books, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart with team options on Ron Holland II, Marcus Sasser and Ausar Thompson.
By then, the Pistons will have chosen which of their young core are worth building around and jettisoned the others, so should have a ton of open cap space just as Cade, Ausar and Holland come into their own.
Fans are sick of hearing about the financial flexibility of a team that hasn’t been good in 16 years, but the Pistons do have it, and their payroll shows some exciting possibilities for the future.