All signs are pointing to a very aggressive Pistons front office ahead of the offseason. GM Trajan Langdon is expected to pursue upgrades to take the next step into championship contention. Detroit's flexibility and assets allow Langdon to keep his options open, both in free agency and the trade market.
One of these options is Lakers guard Austin Reaves. The 28-year-old combo guard will be a restricted free agent this summer. On paper, he is an excellent fit for what Detroit is looking for next to Cade Cunningham. In fact, NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Sunday that the Pistons and the Nets are being mentioned as potential Reaves suitors.
But how realistic a target is Reaves for the Pistons?
Austin Reaves may be more of a pipe dream for Detroit
If the Lakers want to keep Reaves, they have a big advantage over any team, similar to the Pistons and Jalen Duren. LA can offer Reaves a five-year, maximum deal up to $239.3 million. The most a rival team can offer is a four-year, $177.4 million deal.
As long as the Lakers beat that offer, they could prevent Reaves from ever hitting the open market. They could also always match any offer sheet, keeping Reaves on the team.
How much the Lakers want to do that, however, is another question. As good as Reaves is, his backcourt fit with Luka Doncic is questionable and may be putting a ceiling on how good the Lakers can be defensively. The Lakers may not want to tie their entire future to a Doncic-Reaves pairing. With the uncertainty surrounding LeBron James' future, the Lakers may want to take a step back and maintain some future flexibility instead.
The problem with the Pistons going after Reaves or another restricted free agent is that it could prevent them from doing other things in free agency. An offer sheet to a restricted free agent ties up your cap space for 48 hours before the player's home team makes a decision in 48 hours.
With how quickly NBA free agency moves, those 48 hours might mean that top free agents sign elsewhere. If the Lakers match Detroit's offer sheet for Reaves, then the Pistons may be left without any of their top FA targets.
Plus, the Pistons have their own negotiations with Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson. They have to see how much they can sign them for before making a decision on Reaves. This is why Stein also reported that the Pistons are "expected to focus on potential trade additions rather than free agent targets."
This is in line with the recent reporting that Detroit is pursuing Trey Murphy and Kyrie Irving. The Pistons would rather give up assets in a trade to get their books in order than make big offers in free agency. Preferring someone like Murphy, who is on a team-friendly deal, or someone like Irving, who is on a short-term deal, over Reaves makes sense for the Pistons.
Technically, Reaves may be the best on-court fit among all the potential targets. But, he may also be the most difficult one to acquire. For now, he may have to remain a pipe dream.
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