Detroit Pistons: Complete 2017 offseason grades

Renouncing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Galloway’s cap hit made retaining Kentavious Caldwell-Pope improbable. With roughly $20 million worth of room to operate below the hard cap, a max offer sheet would have forced Detroit to clear salary quickly before matching.

Perhaps the Pistons did not want to match at that price. Given Caldwell-Pope’s limited skill-set and tepid development, that line of thinking is understandable. Maybe they had intel that an offer was coming, so they renounced him in an effort to clear his cap hold and move on. (For what it’s worth, the Galloway signing did not receive an “F” based on the possibility that they had no intention of paying big for KCP.)

As with the Galloway signing, reality does not line up with this benefit-of-the-doubt explanation. Caldwell-Pope ended up going to the Lakers on a one-year, $18 million deal, a far cry from the nine-figure sheet Detroit was seemingly afraid of.

Maybe Caldwell-Pope was unhappy. Maybe Detroit knew of the Avery Bradley trade opportunity before it happened. Regardless, having match rights on the summer’s best restricted free agent and losing him for nothing is never a good thing. That they did so on their own volition (and possibly because of a cap miscalculation) makes it all the worse.

Grade: D