This is an update to a previous post, to account for Detroit’s signings of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, in order to find out how much cap space the Pistons have left
Detroit Pistons Salaries
Let’s start off by looking at who is currently on the Pistons’ books for next season.
Here are the contracts over five million dollars
- Rip Hamilton – $11.63 million
- Tayshaun Prince – $10.32 million
- Ben Gordon – $9 million
- Charlie Villanueva – $6 million
- Jason Maxiell – $5 million
That totals $41.95 million spread across five players.
Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva will be beginning their new five year contracts, and Jason Maxiell will also be starting his new contract, a four year deal respectively. Meanwhile, the older guys Rip + Tayshaun, Rip Hamilton has four more years on his deal, and Tayshaun has two years.
Now let’s have a look at the rest of their contracts
- Kwame Brown – $4 million
- Rodney Stuckey – $1.8 million
- Arron Afflalo – $1.09 million
- Will Bynum – $825k
- Walter Sharpe – $740k
These contracts add up a little over $8.46 million spread across five players.
Kwame Brown and Will Bynum are entering the final year of their respective contracts. As for the rest, they’re on their rookie scale contracts.
That brings the Pistons’ total up to $50.41 million for ten players.
Other costs
- 2009 First Round Draft Pick — The Pistons have the 15th selection in the NBA Draft, and that pick is worth a cap hold of $1.4 million. Austin Daye hasn’t been signed yet, and won’t be signed until after the Pistons use up their remaining cap space.
- Second Round Picks — The Pistons own the rights to DaJuan Summers and Jonas Jerebeko. Both players are near-certainties to be with the Pistons next season, although neither will be signed until after the remaining cap space is used.
- Waived Players — Fabricio Oberto — $1.9 million of Oberto’s contract was guaranteed, and that counts against the Pistons cap.
- Open Roster Spot — The Pistons have one open roster spot charge, costing them $475k.
The total of these additional costs is $3.77 million, which brings the Pistons overall total up to $54.18 million.
The Cap
The salary cap has been set at $57.7 million
Pistons’ Cap Space
The Pistons have $3.52 million left in cap space.
Afflalo and Sharpe dealt to Nuggs, freeing up 1.8 mil for Detroit.
Thanks Ryan, nice trade for the Nuggets. It looks dodgy for the Pistons, but it all depends on who they get with their free agent money, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I think the reports are wrong about freeing up $1.8 million though. They’re not including a cap charge for the two empty roster spots created by Afflalo’s and Sharpe’s departure, it would only be half of that.
The Pistons move Afflalo ($1.09 million) and Sharpe and ($825k), which removes $1.915 million. But at that point the Pistons will only have 9 players, leaving a cap hold for three empty roster spots. Prior to the trade, the Pistons were already on the hook for one roster spot cap hold, so only two extra charges of $475k each. That extra cap hold would cost $950k … so it would be $1.915 million minus $950k, equaling $965k.
I think the Pistons have freed up an extra $965k, which when added $3.52 million (by my math), gives Detroit around $4.485 million to spend on another free agent.
That would allow the Pistons to offer a contract similar to the one the Raptors are giving to Jarrett Jack, a four year $20 million type of deal. Or a five year deal worth $26 million.