Detroit Pistons: 3 reasons to be excited about this team

2. Cap space coming

The Pistons spent big when the salary cap exploded, and they’ve been dealing with the consequences ever since. Reggie Jackson was paid as a top-15 point guard for much of the past few years, and he hasn’t been anything close to that. He’s shown flashes, especially this year as he grew to fit better next to Blake Griffin with his 3-point shooting, but he’s still far too highly paid.

Jon Leuer is being $10 million a season to give them below-average minutes at the power forward spot. He’s played fewer minutes than Thon Maker has, and Maker has played in 12 fewer games since being acquired at the trade deadline. Both Leuer and Jackson come off the books next year, and that can allow the Pistons to finally make some moves in free agency to get better fits for their system.

Galloway can be the team’s sixth man when he’s playing well, but he just doesn’t have the consistency to justify his price tag. Even when he was playing well at the beginning of March, he was barely scraping his value. The team has just six players under contract for the 2020-21 season. There will be plenty of money to get the players they need once these bad contracts are rolling off.