The Detroit Pistons made a series of baffling moves that made sense once the dust settled.
They waived Paul Reed to not have to pay his full contract, signed Javante McCoy to get up to the salary minimum, and once Reed cleared waivers, they waived McCoy and re-signed Paul Reed to a veteran’s minimum.
I admit to reacting before I saw the full picture and thought Reed had become another pointless signing, but that turned out not to be the case, at least as it pertains to cap space.
How much cap space do the Pistons have?
This flurry of moves netted the Pistons around $4 million in cap space, so essentially, they kept the exact same team except now have $14 million in cap space instead of 10.5, so this was a very smart move by the front office.
Of course, we’ve heard about financial flexibility before, but it only matters if they do something with it.
Pistons trade rumors
The consensus seems to be that Trajan Langdon is waiting around for a big three-team trade, as Detroit is the only team with cap space and it could be used to facilitate an otherwise financially challenging deal.
In exchange, the Pistons would likely pick up future draft assets, not the most exciting result, but one that is pragmatic, as Detroit somehow still owes a pick and doesn’t have additional draft assets to use in a trade.
It’s inexplicable after five years of egregious tanking, but it’s the hand Langdon was dealt.
There is another option, which is to package that cap space with a contract like Tim Hardaway Jr. and try to make a move that will help them this season.
The fanbase seems to be split on this one, as such a move would potentially cost them their 2025 draft pick that is top-13 protected. Most of the “star” players available have big red flags in terms of contract and/or injury history, but there are players out there in that range who could help.
This is especially true now that Isaiah Stewart was injured last night (though we don’t know the severity), as the Pistons are one twisted ankle from having Paul Reed go from waived to the starting lineup.
A versatile big man like John Collins who can play spot minutes at the five could be a nice fit, and he is shooting lights out this season.
The point is that the Pistons have more options than they did yesterday and it’s nice to see a front office that did something smart to create cap space, now we just have to wait around and see how they use it.