Detroit Pistons Offseason: 2026

[buddha]

31 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

So they are operating as a cap space team

for who?

[Deleterious]

4 minutes ago, buddha said:

for who?

Powell 

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

This coming season is the last year of his deal.  100% he will not sign here again, so why bother.  Even if he did, he is 35 years old.

 

[Hongbit]

The entire front office needs to be cleaned out if they bring in LeBron.  

[NorthWoods]

58 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The entire front office needs to be cleaned out if they bring in LeBron.  

The first time I saw him do his powder routine in a Pistons uniform would be the last.....that and his flopping act.  

[Deleterious]

lol

 

[Betrayer]

Out of all the garbage people are throwing against the wall to see what sticks, I like the mention of JSJ best. 

[buddha]

lamelo ball???  wtf?

why bring a selfish, oft injured, immature player onto this team?  how are he and cade going to operate together?

please no.

[Hongbit]

If they are going to bring in a head case, I’d much rather it be Kyrie than Melo.  

[Sports_Freak]

9 hours ago, Shinzaki said:

Stew to Mempho for 3 2nds

Seriously? Terrible, horrible and stupid. His defense and rim protection will not be replaced. Defense takes major hit....

[Deleterious]

Ball would explain the Stewart trade since they couldn't include him in a deal with Charlotte. Can't have the new guy throwing hands with his new teammates during his introductory press conference.

[casimir]

JSJ?  Jabari Smith Jr?

[Deleterious]

Reading the tea leaves, Norm Powell makes a lot of sense after the Stewart trade.  

The trade allows Detroit to open up cap space to sign Powell.  That put them above all the teams that only have the MLE (Roughly $15.1 million) to spend on free agents this summer.  That means the only teams who have more cap space for Powell right now are the Lakers, Bulls, and Nets.

The Bulls and Nets are probably not realistic for Powell unless they just throw stupid money at him.  The Lakers would have to dump LeBron to have the cap space.  Even then, they just extended Reaves who plays the same position as Powell.  They would have multiple holes to fill in their starting lineup, so it seems unlikely they spend money on a backup SG.

That leaves Detroit.

The first graphic is the Pistons current payroll.  There are two numbers, one showing their cap number if they renounced every single free agent and one if you included all of their cap holds.

The second graphic is their current salary + only retaining the Duren cap hold.  Meaning they renounced every other free agent, lost their rights to them, and would need to use cap space and/or exceptions to sign them back.  It also includes what a three year and two year contract looks like for Powell if they offered him all of their cap space this year.

If the Pistons did this, they would not get the MLE to spend this year.  Instead, they would get the Room MLE which is about $9.4 million.  

So with Powell + Duren coming back, they would have 13 players under contract, $0 cap space, and $9.4 million of the Room MLE to spend to fill out the roster.

Assuming some numbers here.  If they bring back Duren at $35 million for the 2026-27 season that would put them at $200 million in salary for next year.  The Luxury tax line is projected at $201 million and the 1st apron at $209 million.  So after they fill out the roster they will most likely be in the luxury tax, but I would imagine they stay under the 1st apron.  Of course all of this is subject to change with other trades.

 

 

[Deleterious]

Even if it isn't Powell.  The $20.6 million number gives us an idea of the space they could potentially open up.  They could use it on a free agent or absorb a contract from a team in salary cap trouble in a trade without sending anyone back.  

They could go bigger by cutting any combination of Robinson, Reed, Jenkins, and Smith.  But that opens up different problems as they would need to be replaced.

The most likely candidate from those four to be let go is Smith.  He has a team option that Detroit must decide on before June 29th.  They could actually decline it and open up $2.4 million more in space.  If they really like Smith, they could bring him back for the veteran minimum after they make their free agent moves.  

[buddha]

all this for norm powell?

[Deleterious]

3 minutes ago, buddha said:

all this for norm powell?

That is just a guess on my part.  But I would be shocked if Stewart wasn't traded to either sign a free agent or trade for someone like Cam Johnson where Denver wouldn't want anyone coming back because they are trying to save money.

If they were trading for Herro or Jabari, they would want Stew involved in the trade.  He is an asset teams would want and he is matching salary.  

This is just step one, and there's still a ton of work to do for Langdon. The roster I listed doesn't even have a PF on it, so they'd need to make a trade to bring one in — and even if they use the Room MLE on Harris, they still need another big/PF.

[Deleterious]

The only thing I'm 100% sure about after the past 24 hours is I'm glad Ku doesn't run the Pistons.

 

[gehringer_2]

3 hours ago, buddha said:

lamelo ball???  wtf?

why bring a selfish, oft injured, immature player onto this team?  how are he and cade going to operate together?

please no.

I thought the Iverson pick up was bad, but I couldn't watch or root for a team with Ball. Period.

Edited June 25 by gehringer_2

[Deleterious]

Watch Memphis flip Stew to Minnesota to replace Reid.  

[Deleterious]

Hope he doesn't start street preaching.

 

[Deleterious]

A few reporters said Langdon won't comment on the Stew trade at the Okorie press conference.  Trade isn't official so he can't say anything.

[Deleterious]

Quite a few people are saying the Memphis-Detroit trade could be expanded.  Include a third team and I think Detroit could bring back about $23 million in salary and not have to renounce all of their FA's.