The Pistons‘ draft haul Thursday night makes it less likely that they’ll pursue Suns center Deandre Ayton in free agency, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Ayton was believed to be Detroit’s main target after opening up roughly $43MM in cap space by agreeing to trade Jerami Grant to the Trail Blazers. Thursday’s deals knock that number down to about $30MM, which sources tell Edwards the team plans to use to sign multiple players rather than handing out one large contract.
The Pistons landed their center of the future by acquiring Jalen Duren of Memphis, who “blew away” the organization during the pre-draft process, according to Edwards’ sources. Multiple teams called Detroit in hopes of making a deal for No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey, but the Pistons were more interested in landing another first-round selection. One of those calls came from the Knicks, who needed to offload salary in hopes of making a run at free agent guard Jalen Brunson. Detroit was able to use some of its cap room to take on Kemba Walker‘s contract, valued at $9.17MM next season, and received Duren, whom New York acquired from the Hornets in a previous deal.
Detroit now has an exciting young core with Ivey and Duren joining Cade Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey, along with enough cap room to be a significant player in free agency. The Pistons are still expected to be big spenders when the process begins next week, sources tell Edwards.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Cavaliers passed on several younger talents to take four-year college player Ochai Agbaji, notes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. After reaching the play-in tournament this season, Cleveland was focused on finding someone who could contribute right away, and there’s hope that the Kansas sharpshooter will add another dimension to the offense. The Cavs were extremely interested in French star Ousmane Dieng, Fedor adds, and would have considered him at No. 14 if the Thunder hadn’t traded up to grab him with the 11th pick.
- The Pacers had numerous trade opportunities Thursday night, but nothing worth pulling the trigger on, according to James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star. “We’re always gonna be aggressive, but there’s always certain price points,” general manager Chad Buchanan said. “Sometimes you have to walk away from deals if it’s not right for your team.”
- Finding a rim protector will be one of the Bulls‘ priorities for the summer, tweets Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. The Bulls will explore their options through free agency and trades, according to general manager Marc Eversley, who suggested the team wants a player who can complement current center Nikola Vucevic.
Pacers win the draft by getting Mathurin & Kendall Brown
Hard to beat what Detroit did. Also, OKC had a nice draft.
I’m ready to see a balance of power shift in the NBA. Like to see some of these teams start to compete.
me as well. i think theyre still a few years away tho
Detroit and Indiana had great nights, OKC went crazy, I think a lot of teams with less picks did well with their moves as well, I don’t really get the Knicks, take a rookie and move salary w/ future picks like a real franchise
Excuse me but Jaden Ivy AND Jalen Duren is far better. You get a distant second and no one nationally is touting the Indiana draft. Wake the F up!
Distant second? Indy will crash assimilating their dumb wings, unlesscthey get something from trading vets.
They are tanking.
Sank will keep on pointing to the future when reminded of his Indy “win”, until people forget he said it.
I sincerely hope on of the Piston Targets is Bridges. We need a quality 3 and D guy. If Charolette doesn’t move Gordon, they will have a hard time matching the contract. Let’s go, Troy.
Charlotte should match whatever Miles gets whether they keep Hayward or not
its not about the ability to match, its about the willingess to match while also paying Heyward
When they signed Hayward they knew Miles would need to be resigned this summer. They should be able to handle both with no problem. If $ was an issue like that then they woulda let Mase Plumlee go before his salary got guaranteed last week
It’s an issue but they can clear players and make a trade or two. If they max out Bridges & go over the cap, it prevents them from making other necessary moves. Then they become desperate. It’s an issue.
like this is the first time a team would be f***ing up during free agancy?
every pro team knows these thing, yet most of them f**k up and especially small market teams prefer avoid paying.
more importanly 2 years ago Bridges wasn’t the player he’s now.so they didn’t know he would need to be resigned.
if they don’t get rid of howard they might think twice before offering the max to bridges
That would put them over the cap.
Miles Bridges might want to stay in Charlotte but they currently don’t have the cap space to max him out. Detroit does……
Detroit did amazing
Cade and Ivey is a dream duo backcourt
Duren will thrive off playing with these two
They have heaps of cap space still
Bagley doesn’t need to be brought back they have bigs
Thrive? Duren cannot shoot!
This is the hopeful silly season.
Not this year for Detroit.
Ivey & Cunningham will be something, but Im not even sure of the combo.
Now… Get Bridges to replace Grant and that’s something. Then Ayton to Hornets as they recover & sacrifice balance.
What would it take for bulls to trade for Ayton? Vucevic and white? Add in Pat Williams for cam Johnson to off set D liability for Phoenix and get the bulls a shooter?