It appears if the Pistons go big this offseason, they will go Big
As the Detroit Pistons set their sights on building off of a successful season that saw them triple their win total from the season prior, little is known about how they plan to take the next step.
There has been some cursory talk of consistency and building from within from team leadership, and seeming mutual interest in bringing back sharpshooter Malik Beasley on a new multi-year deal this offseason. After that? Who knows.
In a league where very few teams are scheduled to have cap space, the Pistons allegedly have set their sights quite high, with big eyes on two of the league’s premier shooting big men.
Detroit is interested in both Minnesota Timberwolves big man Naz Reid and Indiana Pacers longtime big Myles Turner, according to NBA reporter Marc Stein . Both are scheduled to enter unrestricted free agency.
Turner, about to play in his first NBA Finals with the Pacers now seems like a lock to re-sign with Indiana on a new deal. Things are more complicated for Reid. The Wolves already have Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle, and three free agents likely to command big dollars in Randle, Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The Pistons also have an avenue to offer slightly more than the mid-level exception most teams in the league will be utilizing. If the team renounces its free agent class, including Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dennis Schröder, it can offer a Reid or a Turner a little over $16 million per season. They would then have the room exception to re-sign Beasley at a deal starting at around $8 million.
Now, $16 million is not terribly different from the anticipated $14 million mid-level exception. It also means there is no real path to re-sign Hardaway Jr. or Schröder.
It would also create a glut of centers on a team that already features Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren. Logically, it makes sense that one of those players would be sent out. Reid is not the defender Beef Stew is, but he’s a more reliable three-point shooter who has previously spent his career alternating between power forward and center.
The fact that coach JB Bickerstaff played Stewart almost exclusively at center this season leads me to think he’d earmark the same role for Reid. Lending more credence to the idea that one center has gotta go.
Reid is a career 37% 3-point shooter who hoisted a career-high six per game and scored 14.2 points per game, the best in his career. He is also a quality, if undersized defender at his position.
Would the Pistons really be willing to sacrifice Jalen Duren’s size, youth, and lob threat in service of Reid’s floor spacing as a starting-caliber big man? Is there an avenue where the Pistons could keep Duren and add Reid at the cost of sending out Stewart in a separate deal?
The Pistons will eventually have to solve for the problem of wanting to maximize space for Cade Cunningham to work within while also continuing to build around a super important, super poor shooter in Ausar Thompson. That could tip the scales in the direction of needing a stretch big to make the roster work long term.
I’m not sure what the answers to those questions are, but just for funsies in June, let me throw out an idea inspired by another item in that same Marc Stein column.
Stein details the coaching search in Phoenix and the prevailing notion that Kevin Durant will likely be traded away while the Suns attempt to retool around Devin Booker. One team known to be high on Durant is the Timberwolves.
Could there be a potential three-way trade in the offing that would see Durant land in Minnesota, Reid land in Detroit, and a newly extended Duren (and picks from Minnesota) find a home in Phoenix?
All crazy trades on the internet are designed to never come to fruition, but in the safety of the beginning of June with days before the NBA Finals begin, I’ll just throw it out there. If the idea is to somehow entice Reid with the MLE or slightly above, then what other move would you like to see the Pistons make if it clears out one of its big men?