NBA Free Agency: Grading all 30 teams on trades and signings

NBA Free Agency Grades: Detroit Pistons

Signings: Marvin Bagley III (3 years, $37.5 million); Kevin Knox (2 years, $6 million)

Trades: Nikola Radicevic, second-round pick to New York Knicks for Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, 2 second-round picks, cash; Jerami Grant, Ismael Kamagate (46th pick) for Gabriele Procida (36th pick), first-round pick, 2 second-round picks

When trying to evaluate the Detroit Pistons’ “free agency” period without evaluating the “draft” period you run into a problem, as they moved Jerami Grant “verbally” before the draft in a deal that wasn’t official until a week into free agency. We’ll include it here, but the Pistons more than most are a bit tricky to parse out according to our guidelines.

The deal to move Jerami Grant for a first-round pick, two seconds and a pick swap looked like selling low, but given that the Pistons were able to pivot and use much of the money saved in the deal to add draft assets from the Knicks it seems quite reasonable. Their deal to add Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel probably could have extracted more from the Knicks given their somewhat desperate situation to clear space for Jalen Brunson, but other teams with space like the Pacers and Spurs probably motivated the Pistons to move quickly.

Now to the signings. The Pistons spent $43.5 million in contracts on a pair of former top-ten picks who have essentially failed to deliver much of anything to this point in their careers. Taking a flier on Knox is fine, but he doesn’t look like an NBA player. Bagley? Paying him $12.5 million a season is highway robbery by his agent and a terrible decision by the Pistons. Their future is bright because of some excellent drafting, but they continue to lose at putting the pieces of a team together.

Grade: C