Grading Detroit Pistons trade with Washington Wizards: The Money
This trade was all about money, both for the present and the future.
The biggest part of this deal is that the Pistons no longer have Marvin Bagley III's $12.5 million on the books for next season, as both Gallinari and Muscala are expiring contracts
According to the great Keith Smith at Spotrac the Pistons will now have around $50.3 million in cap space (if they keep Bojan Bogdanovic) and $66.1 million if they buy Bogey out or trade him before the deadline.
This will give Detroit more cap space than any other team this offseason, but we've been down this road before, as this has been the case for the last three years and the Pistons have nothing to show for it.
With his job now hanging in the balance, you have to believe Troy Weaver is looking to make a splash either at the trade deadline or next offseason. We should probably all be equally excited and terrified by that prospect.
This trade also created a $5.7 million trade exception for Detroit, so they saved around $4 million this season and opened up at least $10 million for next offseason.
Grade: Incomplete*
*Financially this looks great for Detroit, but all of their mythical financial flexibility doesn't matter unless they do something with it, so I am saving my grade until the Pistons do something other than be more "nimble."