Detroit Pistons Offseason: 2026

[Deleterious]

Link to the Pistons salary situation.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/detroit-pistons/yearly

They sit at about $135 million with 11 players signed.  This included none of the free agents for this summer like Duren.

Salary cap is projected at $165 million.  1st Apron at $209 million.  2nd Apron at $222 million.  Luxury tax at $201 million.

Draft: June 23rd is the first round and the 24th is the second round.  Pistons are picking 21st.  They currently do not have a 2nd round pick.

Key free agent dates:

June 30th at 6PM eastern teams are free to start talking to free agents.

July 1st the moratorium begins.  Teams can continue to negotiate, but no contracts or trades can happen at this time.  The league uses this time to go over the books and determine the seasons salary cap.

June 6th at noon eastern teams can officially start to sign free agents.

Dates related to the Pistons and their players:

June 29th - The team option for Jenkins and Smith must be decided by this date.  If they pick up Smith's option it is not guaranteed, yet.

January 10th - Reed, Robinson, and Smith are guaranteed if still on the roster at this date.  Reed and Smith can be cut this summer and cost Detroit $0.  Robinson can be cut this summer and cost Detroit $2 million, compared to his $15 million season salary.

 

Pistons free agents:

Jalen Duren - Restricted full Bird rights

Tobias Harris - Unrestricted partial Bird rights

Javonte Green - Unrestricted partial Bird rights

Kevin Huerter - Unrestricted full Bird rights

Malik Beasley - Unrestricted partial Bird rights.  Yes, they still hold the rights to Beasley.

Full vs. restricted Bird rights.  Full means they can go over the cap for pretty much any amount to sign them.  Partial means there are restrictions on how much they can offer.  They can go over that restriction, but then they need actual cap space to offer them.

Most feel the Pistons will operate as an over the cap team this summer.  That means they will have no cap space to use on free agents.  They will get the Mid-Level Exception(MLE).  The MLE Is a certain percentage of the cap and will probably be around $15.5 million this year.

So that is what the Pistons have to work with in free agency this summer, $15.5 million.

They did have the Bi-Annual Exception, but burned it in the trade with Minnesota.  That means they can't use it this summer, but can again in the summer of 2027.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Deleterious]

The Duren situation

Jalen Duren is a restricted free agent this summer.  A max contract for Duren would be a first year salary equal to 25% of the 2027 salary cap.  It will include 8% raises based on the 1st year of that contract.  

If Duren makes the all NBA team, he is then eligible for 30% of the cap if the Pistons want to give it to him.  

So a 25% max starts at $41 million for the first season of the contract.  Going up 8% each year puts it about $220 million total for the 5 years.

30% starts at $49.5 million the first year and ends up around $260 million total for the 5 years.

How RFA works.

The Pistons can offer Duren a contract directly.  But he is also free to negotiate with other teams.  If another team signs him it's called an offer sheet.  Once he signs an offer sheet the Pistons will have 48 hours to match the offer sheet to keep Duren or let him walk.

Duren is eligible for a sign and trade.  Once he signs an offer sheet with another team he is no longer eligible for a S&T.  At that point the Pistons only have two options.  Match or let him walk.  All S&T's have to be worked out before an offer sheet is signed.

If Duren signs an offer sheet and the Pistons match, he receives a no-trade clause for one season.  So he could be traded during the season, but it complicates things since he has the final say for the year.

If Duren does not sign an offer sheet with another team and can not work out a deal with Detroit, he can sign the qualifying offer.  That is a one-year contract and I think Duren's is worth about $10 million.  He would get a no-trade clause and next summer Duren would become an unrestricted free agent.  Meaning Detroit would have no chance to match an offer he gets.

The Ausar situation

Ausar Thompson is extension eligible on July 1st.  The Pistons have until the first game of the season to negotiate with him.  After that he is no longer eligible and would enter restricted free agency in the summer of 2027.

If Ausar signs a max contract, it will look similar to the numbers I listed for Duren.  The only difference is his 25%/30% of the cap will be based off of the 2027-28 salary cap, not this coming seasons.  So assuming the cap goes up the Thompson numbers would be a bit higher.  

Another thing to consider is Stewart is extension eligible starting July 11th.  I don't see him getting one, but he is eligible.  

 

[buddha]

stew hasnt been healthy two post seasons in a row. that could  be bad luck or that he's too small to take that 82 game beating.

i think last year he was beat up.  this year was bad luck because it looked like he got hurt against orlando in game 3 and was never the same afterwards.

[buddha]

on ku's podcast:

ausar extension expected to be done first and quickly.

duren is up in the air.  his people want a max and the pistons are balking - both for obvious reasons.

expect them to make a major move to upgrade the team this offseason, but it may not be the type of "trade five first rounders for a shooting guard" type of trade.

if they re-sign duren then stew may get moved.

what happens with ron holland?  do they wait on him to develop into "ausar-lite"?  jb doesnt trust his shot or his defensive intelligence.  so kuch so that he played sasser over him.

[Deleterious]

I'm going to throw out a free agent target I want.

Peyton Watson from Denver.  

3 and D type.  Shot 35% from three last year and upped it to 41% this season.  Corner specialist.  Shot 42% from the right corner and 47% from the left corner this season.  

Very good defender both on and off the ball.  Big wingspan and is very disruptive in the passing lanes, like Ausar.  Can play/guard SG/SF and maybe some small ball PF's.  He would be a huge upgrade over Robinson.

I have no clue how they obtain him.  He is a restricted free agent, and he will cost more than the MLE.  So it would have to most likely be a sign and trade with Denver.  They want to keep him but probably can't afford to.  They are currently at $209 million next year without including his new deal.  That is way over the luxury tax.  They could dump salary, but the problem is, they don't have draft picks to trade and to dump salary you almost always have to attach picks.  

Another problem.  He will be a very sought after FA this summer.  So the price might get too high really fast.  

[Deleterious]

 

[Betrayer]

8 hours ago, Deleterious said:

I'm going to throw out a free agent target I want...

3 and D type.

That's all you needed to say.

You can only go so far when every player on your roster is a choice between offense and defense.

[Shinzaki]

Im as big a Duren guy as anyone here.  I wouldn't give him a max deal..

[Deleterious]

This article projects who will/wont have cap space this summer.

Updated 2026 Cap Space and Spending Power Projections

Basically three teams with the space to offer Duren the max.  And that includes LA, which would have to dump LeBron to do so.  

Quote

• Chicago Bulls: $63.5 million

• Los Angeles Lakers: $48.4 million

• Brooklyn Nets: $46.9 million

 

[Deleterious]

Duren has to go if Ku is correct and Detroit plans to go big on Ausar.

You can't have two starters that combined to make 22 field goals from >16 feet last season.  That is regular season, not the playoffs.  22 combined field goals.

You can't wrap up $50-$60 million a year in two guys who can't shoot from the perimeter.  Not in today's game.  I loved Detroit beating teams 82-78 back in the day, but that isn't reality today.  You need to be somewhat competent on offense to win today.  

If you swap Duren for a 20 PPG scorer who shoots >38% from three on decent volume, the Pistons are playing the Knicks tonight.

I'm not saying they shouldn't sign Duren, they still should.  I would try to work a sign and trade first, obviously.  But if that isn't possible then sign him to a reasonable deal and attempt to trade him when he becomes trade eligible in December.  

[Betrayer]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

Duren has to go if Ku is correct and Detroit plans to go big on Ausar.

You can't have two starters that combined to make 22 field goals from >16 feet last season.  That is regular season, not the playoffs.  22 combined field goals.

You can't wrap up $50-$60 million a year in two guys who can't shoot from the perimeter.  Not in today's game.  I loved Detroit beating teams 82-78 back in the day, but that isn't reality today.  You need to be somewhat competent on offense to win today.  

If you swap Duren for a 20 PPG scorer who shoots >38% from three on decent volume, the Pistons are playing the Knicks tonight.

I'm not saying they shouldn't sign Duren, they still should.  I would try to work a sign and trade first, obviously.  But if that isn't possible then sign him to a reasonable deal and attempt to trade him when he becomes trade eligible in December.  

A perennial first team All Defense wing or the second coming of Ayton/Drummond who can get rebounds/dunks during the regular season but is mediocre on the defensive end? No-brainer. Allen and Carter outplay him in the playoffs. We saw other smart teams like the Celtics neutralize Duren in the regular season as well. The message was probably, "Hey, just box this guy out."

Any lob threat could give you 80% of what Duren gives you in the regular season with better defense added into the bargain.

A choice between Duren and Ausar is no choice at all. The answer is Ausar every day and the only person thinking twice about it is apparently JB. Ku has had a number of episodes where he seems to have info that others don't have or won't talk about because they're too busy brown nosing the organization/players (Omari). At this point there's enough smoke that he probably does have someone on the inside.

The story really makes sense when you think about JB's handling of Ausar compared to other players. The fact that the front office had to have "a talk" with JB after that first playoff game is just another example of his incompetence. How they extended him after that I'll never understand. Maybe just Gores doing Gores things.

Either way, if Trajan is the guy in the Ausar camp, then he has the right idea. Luckily he's also the one making the contract deals, not JB, so maybe there's hope.

[Betrayer]

Not sure if the link will change after it's over, but here's the presser happening now.

[Deleterious]

I have a hard time believing the Ku story about them sitting JB down after game 1.  You don't do that then turn around and extend him.  If it is true, its some serious incompetence from management.