The Detroit Pistons might be ready to shake things up. After years of rebuilding, they’re thinking about becoming buyers before the February 6 trade deadline – a pretty big shift for a team that’s usually on the selling end of deals.
Right now, the Pistons are sitting in a unique spot. They’re the only NBA team with cap space to play with – about $14 million worth.
“Detroit’s looking at all their options,” NBA insider Jake Fischer reported in The Stein Line. “They’re having those early conversations about possibly making some moves.”
But don’t expect any blockbuster deals. The team isn’t going after big names like Jimmy Butler or Brandon Ingram.
Instead, they’re eyeing more modest targets. Bruce Brown, John Collins, and Malcolm Brogdon are all on their radar – solid players who could help without breaking the bank.
It’s been quite a turnaround for Detroit. Last season was brutal – they won just 14 games, the worst in franchise history. Now? They’re actually in the playoff hunt.
The team’s sitting at 21-20 halfway through the season, good for ninth place in the East. They’re only 2ยฝ games behind the Indiana Pacers for fifth place.
A lot of credit goes to their offseason moves. They brought in new leadership with Trajan Langdon running basketball operations and J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach. They also added veterans like Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and Tim Hardaway Jr. to help guide their young stars.
The Pistons have some flexibility in making deals. They’ve got that $14 million in cap space plus an $8 million room exception. That means they could help facilitate bigger trades between other teams while picking up some assets for themselves.
There is one catch – they still owe a first-round pick to Minnesota from a 2020 trade. But that might actually motivate them to get creative in the trade market.
For Pistons fans, it’s a refreshing change. The team’s finally looking more like a competitor than a rebuilding project. And with the trade deadline approaching, they might not be done improving yet.
