Detroit Pistons Offseason: 2026

[Deleterious]

Ayo Dosunmu would be a nice target in free agency.  Unfortunately, I think his playoff performance might have priced Detroit of the Ayo market.  I don't think the MLE will get it done.  

[Deleterious]

Something to remember about free agency.  The rumor is Detroit will sign international player, Isaac Bonga.  6'8" and an excellent wing defender.  He won the best defender award in Eurobasket, which is a step-down from Euroleague.  

His shooting is good in Europe, but they use the 20'6" line which is even shorter than the NCAA.  He didn't shoot well the last time he was in the NBA.  But he was young then and didn't play much, so maybe he's improved.  

If the rumor is true, this will obviously eat into their cap space a bit.

His NBA and international stats:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bongais01.html

https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/players/isaac-bonga-1.html

[KL2]

22 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Your answer is not realistic at all.

No team is moving assets to clear cap space while there is a chance Detroit matches the offer.  Can you imagine what a disaster that would be?  You trade away assets then don't get your guy.  Wow.  

Didn’t the pacers do literally that? 

[Deleterious]

19 minutes ago, KL2 said:

Didn’t the pacers do literally that? 

Technically, yes.  They cut 3 or 4 out of the rotation guys to get an extra $4 million in cap space.  Those type of guys constantly get cut/waived to shave a few million here and there.  The Lakers would need to clear $45 million which would require moving rotation players and/or draft picks.  Two very different things.  

[Deleterious]

Good news, Jalen Duren is now eligible for the 30% max contract.  Here is what it would look like:

Only the Pistons can offer it to him.  He can not get this contract in a sign and trade.  

[Deleterious]

Cade making all nba impacts his next extension as well, or could.

His next extension normal max number is 30% of the cap.  If he wins MVP before then or makes all nba one more time in the next two season, he will be eligible for a super max which is 35% of the cap instead of 30%.  

Hard to tell where the cap will be by then.  But I would expect a 35% extension to be around 5/$400 million.  

[Deleterious]

Yuck

 

[Deleterious]

 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

 

so for the sake of argument,  if the Piston's sit and wait and no-one else offers what happens?

[Deleterious]

11 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

so for the sake of argument,  if the Piston's sit and wait and no-one else offers what happens?

He can sign his qualifying offer.  It's a 1-year deal for about $9.6 million.  He receives a no trade clause for the season.  So he can be traded, but he has to agree to it.  Next summer he becomes a free agent again, but it would be as an unrestricted free agent instead of restricted.  Basically, the Pistons would not have the option to match an offer next year.   

[buddha]

i put the odds of them re-signing duren at 95%, with a 50% chance he gets $38m+ per year.

 

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

i put the odds of them re-signing duren at 95%, with a 50% chance he gets $38m+ per year.

 

Maybe I will start watching cricket.  

[NYLion]

14 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Yuck

 

You guys keep denying reality but the reality is that his market has risen with the All Star and All NBA selections and there's just no way he's getting the $30m or less that you all are hoping for. The strong regular season was a blessing and a curse.

Edited 5 hours ago by NYLion

[gehringer_2]

13 hours ago, Deleterious said:

He can sign his qualifying offer.  It's a 1-year deal for about $9.6 million.  He receives a no trade clause for the season.  So he can be traded, but he has to agree to it.  Next summer he becomes a free agent again, but it would be as an unrestricted free agent instead of restricted.  Basically, the Pistons would not have the option to match an offer next year.   

to me the dilemma for Duren is how does he improve from here? He was much better this season than last, but mostly by doing better at things he already showed he could do. He's at the point now where the next increment in his game pretty much has to be his shooting, and that's asking to see a skill we really haven't seen at all yet  - other than that he has a decent touch at the FT line. A Piston fan could be forgiven for being jaded about the likelihood of a big man's shooting improving.

[Deleterious]

1 hour ago, NYLion said:

You guys keep denying reality but the reality is that his market has risen with the All Star and All NBA selections and there's just no way he's getting the $30m or less that you all are hoping for. The strong regular season was a blessing and a curse.

Oh no, I 100% agree his market is not $30 million.  It's between $20-$25 million.

Want more?  Cool, bring me an offer sheet giving you more and we'll talk.  

[Deleterious]

14 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

to me the dilemma for Duren is how does he improve from here? He was much better this season than last, but mostly by doing better at things he already showed he could do. He's at the point now where the next increment in his game pretty much has to be his shooting, and that's asking to see a skill we really haven't seen at all yet  - other than that he has a decent touch at the FT line. A Piston fan could be forgiven for being jaded about the likelihood of a big man's shooting improving.

For me, it's mostly about his playoff performance.  What he did in the regular season means nothing if he can't replicate it in the playoffs.  

Something else nobody is talking about, his effort issue.  In the Cleveland series he had a three game stretch of 2, 4, and 5 rebounds.  Your 6'10" 240 pound center had 11 total rebounds over a three game span.  That isn't a skill issue, that is an effort issue.

[gehringer_2]

32 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

 That isn't a skill issue, that is an effort issue.

Seems hard to understand why an athlete who's been competitive all his life would decide to take off at the objective point of his life's ambition - unless he was on the take (always has to be considered today!). I would think there has to be more to it. Pistons better figure it out though.

Edited 3 hours ago by gehringer_2

[NYLion]

53 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Oh no, I 100% agree his market is not $30 million.  It's between $20-$25 million.

Want more?  Cool, bring me an offer sheet giving you more and we'll talk.  

That's ridiculous, we'll never agree that an All Star, All NBA 3rd team 22 year old center is worth $20-$25m on the open market. I'm not even a Duren fan as I've stated many times and I prefer not to have him as a Piston for north than $30m/yr and even 30 is pushing it but the numbers and accolades are there to get him big money whether we like it or not. The market you're setting for him isn't realistic.

Edited 3 hours ago by NYLion

[Deleterious]

25 minutes ago, NYLion said:

That's ridiculous, we'll never agree that an All Star, All NBA 3rd team 22 year old center is worth $20-$25m on the open market. I'm not even a Duren fan as I've stated many times and I prefer not to have him as a Piston for north than $30m/yr and even 30 is pushing it but the numbers and accolades are there to get him big money whether we like it or not. The market you're setting for him isn't realistic.

That is the beauty of restricted free agency.  I set my price, and he has the ability to go out and set the market price.  If he can't, guess who set the price right.  If he gets a bigger offer, we deal with it then.  

If we're being honest, $25 million per for a guy that played bad defense and just averaged 10 and 8 in two playoff series is pretty generous and probably overpaying him.  A center who doesn't shoot from more than 3 feet from the rim had a 51% FG% for the playoffs.  

[NYLion]

8 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

That is the beauty of restricted free agency.  I set my price, and he has the ability to go out and set the market price.  If he can't, guess who set the price right.  If he gets a bigger offer, we deal with it then.  

If we're being honest, $25 million per for a guy that played bad defense and just averaged 10 and 8 in two playoff series is pretty generous and probably overpaying him.  A center who doesn't shoot from more than 3 feet from the rim had a 51% FG% for the playoffs.  

Unfortunately, the larger sample size shows pretty much 20 points 10 rebounds a game and some defensive improvements during the larger regular season sample size including an All Star and 3rd All NBA selection.

I've said all along that regular season especially in the NBA doesn't really mean much because the competition is mostly tanking teams, good teams that are cruising or injured teams/load management but I'm pretty sure a lot of negotiations are based on a larger sample size of numbers which is what the regular season encompasses most of. His All Star and All NBA selections only strengthen his case.

Personally, I think  it's a mistake to give him the projected numbers that are being put out there but I believe if the Pistons don't somebody would. I'd rather somebody else take on that contract but I think that's highly unlikely so I'm resigned to the Pistons overpaying him.

[Deleterious]

If you only pay your players for what they do in the regular season and ignore how they perform in the playoffs, don't be surprised when all you ever have is a regular season team.

[buddha]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

If you only pay your players for what they do in the regular season and ignore how they perform in the playoffs, don't be surprised when all you ever have is a regular season team.

ummm...we just extended jb bickerstaff.  do you need any more evidence that were just a "regular season" team?

they are betting on ausar improving his jumper and duren improving his rim protection/defense.  theyre both still very young.

but you know that's what theyre going to do.  given that i am resigned to them re-signing duren, i hope they dont let him go get an offer sheet from brooklyn or the bulls.  neither of those team strike me as very smart, and the bulls entire reason for being is to make the play-in tourney.  they can do that with duren making $40m.

my point being if he goes to market, some dumb team is going to offer him a stupid contract and the pistons will match it.