If Christian Wood leaves in free agency, the Detroit Pistons approach to the offseason may change. We examine five realistic options to target.
When your prime free agency target asks Instagram Live viewers where he should go, the panic level of a franchise inevitably rises. Christian Wood did just that recently. Between that and the logistics involved in re-signing him, the Detroit Pistons need to have a Plan B for the upcoming offseason.
Any discussion of the Pistons’ future has to begin with the reality of their salary cap situation. Sure, they have money to spend, but they are ultimately limited by Blake Griffin’s massive contract. Griffin has a player option for next season so his albatross of a deal almost certainly won’t end until the summer of 2022.
Combine that reality with a depleted roster and it’s clear that Detroit’s rebuilding process won’t truly begin until 2022-2023.
The number one priority for new general manager Troy Weaver must be maintaining cap flexibility for the next two years. That means signing free agents who won’t take up much cap space on shorter-term deals. There is little to no value in limiting the team’s flexibility while Griffin is still under contract.
Maintaining some level of cap space is essential. Very few teams have cap space so the Pistons are a natural trading partner to take on bad contracts while receiving assets to do so.
So the focus should be on signing younger players to shorter, cheaper contracts. These players have more room to develop and can potentially be used as trade pieces when their deals expire.
There are a number of restricted free agents that may appeal to Detroit, but teams would be likely to match offer sheets on guys like Jakob Poeltl, Kris Dunn, and Torrey Craig. Still, it might make sense for the Pistons to sign those types of free agents to force other teams to pay money and then clean up later in the offseason when other teams have less money to spend.
Realistically, Detroit isn’t going to sign any valuable role players. Those players tend to either get overpaid, which the Pistons need to avoid, or they sign with contenders. With that in mind, here are five options you might see Troy Weaver target this offseason.