The 5 worst free agent signings in Detroit Pistons history

Reggie Jackson

The original sin of the Stan Van Gundy era, the Reggie Jackson contract has been one of the more polarizing topics among Piston fans since it was signed. After trading for Jackson at the deadline the Pistons re-signed him in the summer of 2015 for five years, $80 million.

Reggie Jackson’s biggest issue was health and it marred the majority of his time in Detroit. He had two seasons where he was able to play in 79 and 82 games but the rest he only appeared in 52, 45 and 14 games respectively. It was always going to be tough for Jackson to live up to his contract with health limiting him to this degree.

The biggest issue is when comparing him to players with similar stats and win shares he is overpaid. He compares to players making at most 80 percent of his value and that is likely a reserve player being paid like a starter.

Reggie Jackson is not the only reason for the follies over the Van Gundy era, as we have clearly shown so far. Furthermore, I have come around over his last season to see that most of the vocal fan base was wrong in acting like he was a bad player or teammate solely because he was signed to a bad contract.

Reggie Jackson may not have been what we had hoped he would be but he is not even one of the three worst signings of the last decade. For that, we have to return to the Joe Dumars’ days as well as one more Jeff Bower special.