The Detroit Pistons lost some firepower this offseason, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The absence of Malik Beasley and the departures of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schröder will undoubtedly hurt the Pistons in the backcourt. Even though general manager Trajan Langdon added Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson this summer and Jaden Ivey will return from injury, the Pistons will almost surely regress in terms of shooting and spacing.
That is why it was surprising that the Pistons didn't retain Lindy Waters III in free agency. The 27-year-old shooting guard performed well after arriving in Detroit at the 2025 trade deadline, shooting 39.5% from three in 14 games. He wasn't a part of the rotation down the stretch and in the playoffs, but he was a weapon beyond the arc who could have provided much-needed shooting.
Instead, Waters is now headed to the San Antonio Spurs to play with Victor Wembanyama and chase a playoff seed in the Western Conference, per ESPN's Shams Charania.
Free agent guard Lindy Waters III has agreed to a one-year deal with the San Antonio Spurs, agents Shy Saee and Winston Nelson of Klutch Sports tell ESPN. Waters has shot 37% from 3 in his first four NBA seasons in Oklahoma City, Golden State and Detroit. pic.twitter.com/RuUuvXfvdf
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 23, 2025
Lindy Waters Signs With Spurs After Detroit Makes the Mistake of Letting Him Walk
Waters is another successful developmental story for the Oklahoma City Thunder. After going undrafted in 2020 out of Oklahoma State, Waters had a tryout with the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League in 2021 and eventually signed a two-way deal with the Thunder. He ended up getting his contract converted to a standard multi-year deal with his hometown team before getting traded to the Golden State Warriors in the 2024 offseason.
He arrived in Detroit as part of the trade that landed the Warriors Jimmy Butler. He wasn't able to be a consistent part of the rotation for the Pistons, but one would have assumed that they would be interested on Detroit's part to bring back a good shooter on a team-friendly deal.
Waters doesn't do much other than shoot the ball offensively, but he has good positional size and holds his own on the defensive side of the ball. There is a chance the Pistons will regret ignoring shooting to this degree next season, but let's hope that things don't get so bad that not re-signing Waters ends up hurting them in a big way.