Detroit Pistons salary cap breakdown: Can the No. 1 seed in the East stay together?

The Detroit Pistons are in one of the better situations across the NBA. With fourth lowest salary allocation in the league, and many young talents; the Pistons are at the end of a major rebuild.

In the NBA when a team is forced into a rebuild, it is easy for the organization and fans to become complacent with the situation. Within this complacency, expectations are oftentimes very low.

However, once you start to turn that corner and make the playoffs like the Pistons did. That is when the expectations start to rise again. Within these rising expectations, young stars hit the next stage in their development as well.

Extensions

After displaying talent enough to will their team to the playoffs, young stars are the first to earn a new contract as veterans expire. The Pistons have already extended former number one overall pick Cade Cunnngham to a max extension that has him tied up through 2030.

However, the Pistons failed to extend Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren before the October 20th deadline; leaving them both on the final year of their respective deals.

In Ivey’s case, the Pistons likely want to ensure their starting shooting guard hasn’t lost a step as he continues to rehab from a broken left fibula injury he suffered on New Year's Day.

However, in Duren’s case, the Pistons are playing a much riskier game. While there were reports that Duren was seeking about 30 million per year in a potential extension, he was not given any official offer from the Pistons.

Now the Pistons have pushed both players into the final year of their contracts, leaving them as restricted free agents this offseason.

What is a restricted free agent?

A restricted free agent is a player that has reached the end of their contract(typically a rookie contract) and is free to test the free agent market. If a restricted free agent signs a deal with a new team, their original team has two days to match the new team’s offer.

If any team were to offer Duren or Ivey a deal this offseason that they would like to accept, the Pistons will be granted two days to match the accepted offer. Matching an offer forces the players back to Detroit(unless a trade can be struck), even if they wanted a change of scenery.

Duren and Ivey won’t be the only free agents the Pistons will have to try and retain this offseason. Tobias Harris is also expiring, leaving the Pistons with a choice.

It is unlikely the Pistons will be able to retain all three players, as they will all likely be seeking 30 million or more dollar contracts. This has led to minor discourse over a possible ultimatum of letting Harris walk to retain both young stars.

Another possible scenario for the Pistons is only retaining the best of the three players and letting the other two walk. Some fans believe that upcoming extensions for Ausar Thompson and Marcus Sasser should be cause for the Pistons to be frugal now.

After all, the last thing Pistons fans want is to wind up over the second apron. By delaying the extensions of Duren and Ivey, the Pistons have left themselves with a lot of freedom to mold the roster of the future this upcoming offseason.