At the end of a 14-win season the only hope is a better future that starts this offseason for the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit will once again be relying on a high draft pick to either add another young player or trade for a more proven talent. You can find information about the odds and date of the NBA Draft Lottery here.
The Pistons can’t trade their pick until draft day, so the 2024 NBA Draft could prove to be a dramatic one for Detroit. You can find the time and dates for the NBA Draft here.
The draft quickly pivots to free agency, and with more cap space than any other team, this could be a year where the Detroit Pistons finally get involved, though we’ve been down this road before.
When does 2024 NBA free agency start?
The easy answer is immediately after the draft. Teams can officially start negotiating with their own free agents on June 30. These should mostly be easy decisions for the Detroit Pistons, who need to clean house of their outgoing free agents and upgrade.
On July 1 the free-agent moratorium begins where teams can convert two-way players and extend offer sheets to restricted free agents. Teams can also sign their first-round selections and guys on minimum deals.
Free agency begins on July 6, when teams can officially sign free agents and earlier trades also become official.
It will be interesting to see if the Pistons try to steal a restricted free agent with an offer sheet that their current team may not want to match. Patrick Williams and Obi Toppin are names that immediately come to mind.
Top free-agent targets for the Detroit Pistons
I went through some of the best targets at each position for the Pistons, but here are a few names to watch:
-Tobias Harris
-Pascal Siakam
-Buddy Hield
-Gary Trent Jr.
-Malik Monk
-Isaiah Hartenstein
-Derrick Jones Jr.
Of course, judging by last year, the Detroit Pistons may do nothing at all and instead look to use trades to bolster their roster, as the list of impact free agents is not long again this offseason.
A wild card to watch is Paul George, who has a player option for $48 million but has yet to come to an agreement on an extension with the Clippers. If he opts out, he’ll suddenly be the biggest name, though I would expect a team like Philly, which also has cap space, to have a far better shot at him than the Pistons.
Free agency may not be the path for Detroit when it comes to landing a star, but they can supplement their roster with quality role players.