Pistons coach/executive Stan Van Gundy, while appearing on SI.com’s Chris Mannix’s radio show (Twitter link), said the fear of Reggie Jackson signing a one-year qualifying offer played a big role in the five-year max contract Detroit offered. The five-year, $80MM deal was officially announced Monday. Jackson said the offseason moves the Pistons made prior to his agreement — Detroit added Ersan Ilyasova, Marcus Morris, Stanley Johnson and Aron Baynes — reinforced his decision, Brendan Savage of MLive.com writes.
“I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” Jackson said. “But definitely some of the pieces that we signed, that made it that much more sweeter.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News said on radio station 94-WIP (relayed by CSNPhilly.com) that Joel Embiid‘s navicular bone in his right foot was re-broken. The news comes one month after the Sixers announced that Embiid had suffered a setback and a little more than a week after it was revealed the center needed another surgery.
- Norman Powell, who the Raptors picked in the second round, will make $650,000 as a rookie, then $875,000 guaranteed in the second year and $1MM (not guaranteed) in the final year of a three-year contract, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
- The Raptors used the room exception to sign Bismack Biyombo, Pincus reports (Twitter link).