The Pistons are claiming former Sixers big man Paul Reed off waivers, The Athletic’s Shams Charania tweets. The Pistons have confirmed the move in a press release (Twitter link).
Reed was placed on waivers on Saturday when Philadelphia chose to sign free agent forward Caleb Martin. He had been due to clear waivers and become a free agent at 4:00 pm CT if he had gone unclaimed.
The Pistons will use some of their available cap room to claim Reed, who signed a three-year, $23,555,150 contract last summer with Philadelphia. Only the first year was guaranteed — his $7.7MM salary for next season remains non-guaranteed until early January, and his $8.1MM salary for 2025/26 will stay non-guaranteed as long as his team doesn’t advance to the second round of the playoffs.
The Pistons could retain Reed to compete with or back up incumbent center Jalen Duren, use Reed as a trade chip, or waive him again if they need to clear cap room to make another move.
Reed has evolved into a serviceable backup in the frontcourt over the past few seasons. In 2023/24, he averaged 7.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 1.0 blocks, appearing in all 82 of Philadelphia’s regular season games.
Thus is a solid move. Reed can play. I wish more NBA teams would consider using waiver claims
Good Solid Pickup
He should fit in well in Detroit and provide some veteran leadership
Sixers would have resigned him on minimum immediately too. Savvy move by Detroit. They can always drop him with the non guarantee salary.
They signed Andre Drummond and drafted Adem Bona. Might not be a lot of minutes for Reed.
good im glad he got picked up. He’s a way undersize 5 who can’t protect the rim. He also isn’t a good enough shooter to space the floor on the offense side. Plus the big thing with him is that he was a energy guy and if the energy wasn’t there he wasn’t providing much.
I guess he was too expensive for the Knicks.
I’m not sure that’s actually true.
Because it’s not true
At least they got rid of that log jam of bigs.
Stewart and Duren will play. Reed can back up Tobias.
Very smart move
Yeah, as long as Wiseman and Bagley are not on this roster and replaced with as many shooters as possible, I love it. This signing is veteran depth. I am very happy with Pistons offseason.
Always thought we needed to help these young kids out and try and put in best position for successful development and get the most out of the talent on the roster. Ivey can be a star if develops with Feed Vinson, Cade can be, Duren may be a great 5. Thompson can be a star, these kids are young.
We don’t really know yet.