The Detroit Pistons have been a bad or mediocre team for many years, and this season, they have sunk to new depths.
They have an NBA-worst 4-39 record, and just weeks ago, they tied a league record by losing 28 games in a row.
Detroit has an utter lack of developed talent, but they do have one tiny glimmer of hope moving record: their 2024 cap space situation.
In fact, they’re projected to have the most cap space in the league at over $50 million, per Keith Smith.
Updated 2024 NBA cap space projections after the CHA-MIA trade:
1. DET: $50.3M
2. CHA: $45.5M (up from $21.7M)
3. ORL: $42.0M
4. PHI: $40.9M
5. UTA: $35.8M
6. TOR: $31.5M
7. SAS: $19.8M— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) January 23, 2024
They may be able to clear even more cap space between now and this summer, as sharpshooting forward Bojan Bogdanovic has been rumored to be on the trade block for some time, and he will make about $19 million next season.
The Pistons haven’t gotten past the first round of the playoffs since the 2007-08 season when they lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics.
That was the last time they were considered anything even close to true championship contenders.
Since then, they have struggled to rebuild, and they have also had something of a coaching carousel.
Detroit took Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and at the time, he was compared to LeBron James because of his size and athleticism, but he has been slow to develop.
The biggest challenge they have in terms of bringing in more talent is the fact that they aren’t exactly the sexy free-agent destination that Los Angeles, Miami, Golden State, and the New York City area are.
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