NBA Powerless Rankings: Pistons making business decisions like a business does

4. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

But the businessing didn’t start this past Monday. No way, bro. Nope. The businessing really started to business this past summer when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the plus-minus champion of the Detroit Pistons was given a fruit basket in the shape of business and was wished well in all of his future business.

This one didn’t feel quite as shocking as the ones to come were. The process of going from being on the team to being on a different team wasn’t sudden.

First, he wasn’t extended. No biggie, he wasn’t having a monstrous season. There were a few bright spots, but it’s fair that they didn’t want to make a call.

Then a qualifying offer was extended. That put a potential date of the end of the KCP Piston tenure out into the world. It was something tangible now.

Then the qualifying offer was rescinded. That end date we were talking about? It was decided to just be moved up a bit to right now immediately at this moment.

The final step came when Caldwell-Pope signed with the Lakers. At this point he was now not just not-a-Piston. He was no longer defined by a lack of definition. He was a Laker.

It’s hard to say at which point in the process it could be said that Caldwell-Pope was “gone.” It was a gradual process. The Kentavious Caldwell-Pagani ran over some glass on the way between his rookie contract and his first big payday, and the air slowly left the tire over the course of a year. There was time to prepare.