Free Agency

[theBigLip]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10122251-luka-doncic-shai-gilgeous-alexander-qualify-for-supermax-contracts-amid-all-nba-nods

It may be a weak FA class, which will likely continue to be the case in future years when all the good players get extended. Check out these numbers. Probably good to extend Cade before he becomes an AllStar and get paid like this.

Luka’s next deal:
2026-27: $59,713,500
2027-28: $64,490,580
2028-29: $69,267,660
2029-30: $74,044,740
2030-31: $78,821,820
TOTAL: $346,338,300

[Kalamazoo317]

He'd be the second best player on this team immediately. This team is *already* terrible. And his cap number would not cripple us or stand in the way of other significant moves. I'd do #5 for Grant and #14, draft a stretch big prospect at #14, then look to free agency or other trades to add more assets. Heck, maybe we could still do #14 and Ivey or Duren for Ingram (I suspect NO would get better offers, though).

You admit the team is terrible but want to trade our #5 in the draft for #14 for a player which is going to stop us being terrible? Unless there’s a plan in place to somehow pull a rabbit out of a hat and get a high level player in I don’t see that as good asset management. If Grant was younger yeah sure, but if he was he probably wouldn’t be available.

I think you're masively overrating how big of a difference there is between #5 and #14 in this draft in terms of how it'd impact our being terrible or not. Neither is going to stop us from being terrible and I'm certainly not arguing that it would. Cade + Grant + other moves could help us stop being completely terrible and make legit players more interested in being here and help raise Cade's star profile/help his development/help him want to stay here longterm/help get rid of the awful losing culture here. Raising the floor to a level of competence has benefits folks don't acknowledge. It's not all or nothing, terrible or championship. You have to build a culture. You have to build competence. You have to have reliable vets around the young players to help them develop. And it's a lot easier to move from mediocre to good and from good to great. Right now we're terrible. Getting to even mediocre would be a boon.

[7r5ur]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10122251-luka-doncic-shai-gilgeous-alexander-qualify-for-supermax-contracts-amid-all-nba-nods

It may be a weak FA class, which will likely continue to be the case in future years when all the good players get extended. Check out these numbers. Probably good to extend Cade before he becomes an AllStar and get paid like this.

Luka’s next deal:
2026-27: $59,713,500
2027-28: $64,490,580
2028-29: $69,267,660
2029-30: $74,044,740
2030-31: $78,821,820
TOTAL: $346,338,300

Those numbers are specific to All-NBA guys and I believe minimum 7-8 years in the league, so we don't really have to worry about that for a while at least.

And even if Cade signs the max extension this year, he would still be eligible to have that salary increased the way Ant and Haliburton did this season by making All-NBA teams.

Though that would mean the Pistons would be good next year (he's not making All-NBA if the Pistons aren't a playoff team) and would require him to be in the top-6 of SGA, Luka, Brunson, Ant, Hali, Booker, Steph, Kyrie, Trae, Fox, Dejounte, Donovan Mitchell, Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray, Maxey, Bane, Ja, etc.

I think we'd be pretty thrilled to spend that money if the Pistons were suddenly a playoff team and Cade somehow was in the top-6 of that group.

[Snakebites]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10122251-luka-doncic-shai-gilgeous-alexander-qualify-for-supermax-contracts-amid-all-nba-nods

It may be a weak FA class, which will likely continue to be the case in future years when all the good players get extended. Check out these numbers. Probably good to extend Cade before he becomes an AllStar and get paid like this.

Luka’s next deal:
2026-27: $59,713,500
2027-28: $64,490,580
2028-29: $69,267,660
2029-30: $74,044,740
2030-31: $78,821,820
TOTAL: $346,338,300

Those numbers are specific to All-NBA guys and I believe minimum 7-8 years in the league, so we don't really have to worry about that for a while at least.

And even if Cade signs the max extension this year, he would still be eligible to have that salary increased the way Ant and Haliburton did this season by making All-NBA teams.

Though that would mean the Pistons would be good next year (he's not making All-NBA if the Pistons aren't a playoff team) and would require him to be in the top-6 of SGA, Luka, Brunson, Ant, Booker, Steph, Kyrie, Trae, Fox, Dejounte, Donovan Mitchell, Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray, Maxey, Bane, etc.

I think we'd be pretty thrilled to spend that money if the Pistons were suddenly a playoff team and Cade somehow was in the top-6 of that group.

Yeah if Cade actually makes that leap you’re happy to take that financial hit.

[Snakebites]

Ty Lue’s extension PROBABLY means PG is staying in LA.

Could trickle down to impact our free agency plans- Philly was going to get first pick of free agents over us.

[GreekAlex]

Ty Lue’s extension PROBABLY means PG is staying in LA.

Could trickle down to impact our free agency plans- Philly was going to get first pick of free agents over us.

Who do you see as their top targets?

Is there any universe that they resign Tobias Harris?

[Snakebites]

Ty Lue’s extension PROBABLY means PG is staying in LA.

Could trickle down to impact our free agency plans- Philly was going to get first pick of free agents over us.

Who do you see as their top targets?

Is there any universe that they resign Tobias Harris?

No way they resign Tobias after his playoff performance and subsequent evisceration by the Philly media and fanbase.

Their next move is either to trade for Butler (again, lol) or try to throw the bag at OG, probably. No idea what they do if those things fail.

It’s not an ironclad guarantee that PG stays with the Clippers- I’m just inclined to think they mean to run it back with that move.

[Crymson]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10122251-luka-doncic-shai-gilgeous-alexander-qualify-for-supermax-contracts-amid-all-nba-nods

It may be a weak FA class, which will likely continue to be the case in future years when all the good players get extended. Check out these numbers. Probably good to extend Cade before he becomes an AllStar and get paid like this.

Luka’s next deal:
2026-27: $59,713,500
2027-28: $64,490,580
2028-29: $69,267,660
2029-30: $74,044,740
2030-31: $78,821,820
TOTAL: $346,338,300

What do you mean? He's going to get a max extension in any event. It'll start at the maximum 25% of the cap that he's eligible to receive, and it'll have the standard escalator clause that'll increase his first-year salary to 30% of the cap if he makes All-NBA, MVP or DPoY next season.

[bstein14]

I honestly think no one besides us is offering Tobias more than $20 million per... and hopefully our new GM has little to no interest. He just hasn't been good enough for usually being the 3rd guy on the scouting report he should be more efficient than he is.

[theBigLip]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10122251-luka-doncic-shai-gilgeous-alexander-qualify-for-supermax-contracts-amid-all-nba-nods

It may be a weak FA class, which will likely continue to be the case in future years when all the good players get extended. Check out these numbers. Probably good to extend Cade before he becomes an AllStar and get paid like this.

Luka’s next deal:
2026-27: $59,713,500
2027-28: $64,490,580
2028-29: $69,267,660
2029-30: $74,044,740
2030-31: $78,821,820
TOTAL: $346,338,300

What do you mean? He's going to get a max extension in any event. It'll start at the maximum 25% of the cap that he's eligible to receive, and it'll have the standard escalator clause that'll increase his first-year salary to 30% of the cap if he makes All-NBA, MVP or DPoY next season.

I guess I wasn’t thinking escalator clause, thx for pointing it out. Regardless, these are getting to be crazy numbers.

[Crymson]

I guess I wasn’t thinking escalator clause, thx for pointing it out. Regardless, these are getting to be crazy numbers.

They exist as a percentage of the cap. A Luka supermax at eight years of experience would entitle him to 35% of the cap.

[Snakebites]

Siakam likely getting 5/250 is a canary in the coal mine that folks should be paying attention to.

[JennetteMcCurdy]

I honestly think no one besides us is offering Tobias more than $20 million per... and hopefully our new GM has little to no interest. He just hasn't been good enough for usually being the 3rd guy on the scouting report he should be more efficient than he is.

Bingo - Philly big game hunting, OKC signing their own players, Orlando wants a guard.

Detroit’s in an awesome spot to get assets with this cap space, don’t screw it up! If Detroit can wait, I fully expect teams to offer picks with productive players who can then be traded for more picks. It’s such a unique spot.

If we pull another Joe Harris or soak our money up in Tobias, I’ll be ticked!

[Kalamazoo317]

Siakam likely getting 5/250 is a canary in the coal mine that folks should be paying attention to.

And should make a lot of the "terrible" contracts (that are like 15-25/year) that we could trade for seem a lot more enticing.

[A_dub06]

He'd be the second best player on this team immediately. This team is *already* terrible. And his cap number would not cripple us or stand in the way of other significant moves. I'd do #5 for Grant and #14, draft a stretch big prospect at #14, then look to free agency or other trades to add more assets. Heck, maybe we could still do #14 and Ivey or Duren for Ingram (I suspect NO would get better offers, though).

You admit the team is terrible but want to trade our #5 in the draft for #14 for a player which is going to stop us being terrible? Unless there’s a plan in place to somehow pull a rabbit out of a hat and get a high level player in I don’t see that as good asset management. If Grant was younger yeah sure, but if he was he probably wouldn’t be available.

I think you're masively overrating how big of a difference there is between #5 and #14 in this draft in terms of how it'd impact our being terrible or not. Neither is going to stop us from being terrible and I'm certainly not arguing that it would. Cade + Grant + other moves could help us stop being completely terrible and make legit players more interested in being here and help raise Cade's star profile/help his development/help him want to stay here longterm/help get rid of the awful losing culture here. Raising the floor to a level of competence has benefits folks don't acknowledge. It's not all or nothing, terrible or championship. You have to build a culture. You have to build competence. You have to have reliable vets around the young players to help them develop. And it's a lot easier to move from mediocre to good and from good to great. Right now we're terrible. Getting to even mediocre would be a boon.

I agree that there are many plays between pick 2 to around 10 where you are getting a prospect with similar levels of upside and risk but I don’t think it extends to pick 14 where bust risk is much higher.

The issue with the Pistons isn’t the amount of losses we had last season or was it us slipping to number 5 in the draft. The negative image surrounding our team comes from the complete ineptitude of the front office. If we had the same amount of losses this season but we saw improvements from the younger players you would take it in stride and keep pushing forward. Coaching in terms of play and lineup decisions from the perspective of player development, asset management by the GM, any sort of “plan” from the GM and the nepotism in our front office are what makes us the joke of the league.

Now I agree with you that a positive culture is important but I’d argue that assembling talented players that can grow together is more important since without the talent you’re not winning anything. We have hardly any talent currently and adding an older player that doesn’t fit the timeline isn’t going to change the trajectory of this team. Weaver has consistently placed importance on culture and look where that has led the team. A group full of nice guys that don’t always show the competitiveness you want.

Detroit had never been a free agent destination even around the 03-04 years. That’s not going to change which means talent needs to be drafted in or traded for, pretty much disregarding free agency for high talent acquisitions. And that’s exactly why trading #5 for #14 and 1-2 years of a player before he decreased effectiveness and becomes a negative contract is not a good idea.

[Kalamazoo317]

I really can't stand this "timeline" bs as if the best way to grow a team is for them all the be within 3 years of age of each other at the same time (which, btw, means their contracts would all peak at roughly the same time as well).

Good teams tend to have a range of ages in their players, from vets that still have it and have leadership chops, to young players who come in strong from the get-go and are huge value contracts, but mostly with mid-tier contracts that are in their prime.

The thought that we're going to have a roster of all players who are in their youth together and in their prime together is unrealistic, but also really financially difficult (kills a ton of our flexibility) and just doesn't make sense in terms of player development (you need older players to show younger players how it's done and you can't prioritize too much youth development at once, as we've repeatedly shown).

[SuperBad]

This is like the 10th time I’ve come up with something but what does anyone think.

Draft Daulton Kneacht, and Coleman Jawkins

Grimes for Moody

3/36m for Fontechio 12
2/45m for Tobias Harris 22.5m per
2/25m Jonas valucunas 12.5
3/54 Gary Trent Jr 18m

Total that’s 65m

Cunningham/Ivey/ Ish
knecht/ Trent JR/ sasser
Moody/ Thompson, tooson
Harris/Fontechio/ Metu
Duran/ Stewart/Jonas

We’re 12 deep,

[7r5ur]

I honestly think no one besides us is offering Tobias more than $20 million per... and hopefully our new GM has little to no interest. He just hasn't been good enough for usually being the 3rd guy on the scouting report he should be more efficient than he is.

I really think this is more online fan/meme discourse with Tobias than anything. This is still a league where Michael Porter Jr. is on a deal that makes like $36M/year for similar numbers. Where Cam Johnson makes $23M/year for worse numbers. Deandre Hunter makes $23M/year for worse numbers. Bojan is making $20M at 35yrs, and he is worse than Tobias.

Without Embiid and Maxey taking 42 shots per game next to him, I would be surprised if he wasn't an easy 20+ ppg guy in Detroit.

Efficiency wise, Tobias is one of those guys that is a jack of all trades master of none. He's solid/good at most things. Just not exciting at anything individually. He has been between 57% and 60% TS for the last 4 years. That's totally fine.

The thing working in our favor is that when you look at the teams with cap space, Philly is very likely not bringing him back regardless. The ship has sailed. Orlando doesn't need another forward. Utah doesn't need forwards. OKC only has ~20M and they have other needs...

Hopefully the lack of competition does give us a chance at landing him on a bargain contract. It's still hard to expect that in Detroit though.

[JennetteMcCurdy]

This is like the 10th time I’ve come up with something but what does anyone think.

Draft Daulton Kneacht, and Coleman Jawkins

Grimes for Moody

3/36m for Fontechio 12
2/45m for Tobias Harris 22.5m per
2/25m Jonas valucunas 12.5
3/54 Gary Trent Jr 18m

Total that’s 65m

Cunningham/Ivey/ Ish
knecht/ Trent JR/ sasser
Moody/ Thompson, tooson
Harris/Fontechio/ Metu
Duran/ Stewart/Jonas

We’re 12 deep,

I think in two years this could become a 30 win team.

[Canadafan]

A very optimistic thread about Ausar but i am here for it!

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