Obi Toppin, 6’9 PF
There were rumors that Obi Toppin was made available this past trade deadline, which makes sense if you look at the Pacers’ roster. They recently traded for Pascal Siakam, and just drafted Jarace Walker. Between the two, Toppin has suddenly become expendable. I should clarify, expendable to the Pacers maybe, but Obi is still someone who would help the Pistons tremendously. He has great size to play the four, but is shooting almost 40 percent from three at the same time. Even while being on the outs for the Pacers future, Obi is averaging a career high 10.7 points this year and is almost 70 percent from two point range.
Now, if I were told Detroit was creating money to be big spenders this offseason, and they came away with the names on this list, admittedly, I’d be underwhelmed. These aren’t the franchise changing players expected when the front office created as much cap space as they did. Fans need to remember, though, that Detroit is not a free agency hotspot. We will not have the same pull that Miami or LA has. It’s most likely that whoever they attract this offseason, it’ll be through a trade. And Detroit doesn't quite have the most assets to offer.
We will know more about who is being made available via trade as the season comes to a close, but for now, keep an eye on these guys. Each of them will make this team better. And that should be welcome, rather than kicking off year five of the rebuild with the same disappointing team.