Detroit Pistons: 3 New Year’s resolutions for the team in 2019

2. Open up cap space

Somehow, some way, the Pistons need to open up cap space for the future. As things stand right now, they are 22nd in available cap space. Of the teams below them, only the Washington Wizards lie outside the playoffs right now. When you spend big in the modern NBA, you expect to make the playoffs, and there is no guarantee that the Pistons will be able to do that. With the big contracts of Griffin and Andre Drummond on the books, they need to get creative.

They are projected to have the seventh-most cap space next offseason, but they could do worse than opening up space this year by getting off the contracts of Jon Leuer or Langston Galloway. Both of them are on overly expensive contracts for the contributions they bring right now, but Galloway is valuable enough that a team in need of guard depth could look to add him. The Pistons are looking to win now, and they could improve the odds of that by adding a shooter in the deal.

After the spending sprees we saw a few seasons ago, teams are strapped for cash right now. That led to the anemic offseason that we saw for role players this past year. Things are going to open up this offseason, and the Pistons need to participate in order to expedite this rebuild. Around $7 million isn’t enough to open up a max slot for a player like Kevin Durant, but it is plenty to make changes happen.