The Pistons are the only NBA team that currently has any cap room. While that has been true for the better part of six months, it will be more important than ever during the next 12 days, since that cap space will give Detroit significant flexibility to make deadline deals that could help the team in the present and/or future.
Entering the fall, it seemed likely that the Pistons, coming off a franchise-worst 14-68 season, would remain deep in rebuilding mode in 2024/25, but that hasn’t been the case through the first half of the season. A resurgent Detroit team has gotten off to a 23-21 start and currently holds the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, the Pistons would control a guaranteed playoff spot.
If the Pistons were clearly lottery-bound again, it would make sense to use their cap room to take on teams’ unwanted contracts with assets (draft picks, cash, and/or prospects) attached. But given their spot in the standings, there has been speculation that the front office will instead look to acquire a player (or players) who could help the team right away.
Since Jaden Ivey , the Pistons’ starting shooting guard and primary backup point guard, went down on New Year’s Day with a broken fibula , that speculation has centered around the idea of Detroit adding another ball-handler and play-maker. But many of the options linked to the team don’t make a lot of sense to me.
Pricey veteran stars like Bradley Beal or Zach LaVine , for instance, would be more logical fits if they were on expiring contracts, but I can’t imagine the Pistons want to take on their oversized deals for two seasons beyond this one, especially since they’d likely have to send out multiple rotation players to make the money work. Their $14MM in cap room can’t accommodate a maximum-salary player without that outgoing salary.
Ivey hasn’t even been ruled out for the rest of this season and certainly should be back on the court by the fall — having a player like Beal or LaVine on next year’s roster alongside Ivey and Cade Cunningham doesn’t strike me as the best move for the duo’s development together, which was trending in such a good direction prior to Ivey’s injury.
A smaller deal to upgrade the backcourt might make sense. Bulls guard Coby White stands out to me as a better fit than those max-salary stars, given his cap hit ($12MM), his shorter-term deal (he’s an unrestricted free agent in 2026), and the fact that he’s gotten accustomed to playing both backcourt positions in Chicago.
But the Bulls would presumably seek at least a first-round pick for White, and the Pistons already owe their 2025 first-rounder to Minnesota. It’s not like Detroit is one player away from legitimate contention, so it’s still too early in the rebuilding process to be parting with another first-rounder unless it’s in a deal that nets the team a star.
In my view, the logical path for the Pistons at this season’s deadline is a more conservative approach that sees them continue to stockpile assets while also maintaining cap flexibility beyond this season and acquiring a player or two who could help fill the hole created by Ivey’s injury for the rest of 2024/25.
Here’s my suggestion for how the Pistons should use their cap room at the deadline:
