NBA Free Agency 2020: 5 teams with the most to gain

5. Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons are plunging headfirst into a ground-up rebuild.

Prior to the Feb. 6 trade deadline, they shipped two-time All-Star center Andre Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the expiring contracts of John Henson and Brandon Knight and a 2023 second-round pick. Two weeks later, they waived point guard Reggie Jackson in the final year of his five-year, $80 million contract.

Blake Griffin ($36.8 million) and Tony Snell ($12.2 million player option) are the only two Pistons players currently under contract who will earn more than $8 million next season. Detroit could carve out even more cap space by trading Derrick Rose this offseason for draft picks and/or young prospects.

The Pistons’ top priority in free agency may be retaining Christian Wood, who erupted for 22.8 points on 56.2 percent shooting and 9.9 rebounds in 13 games after the Drummond trade. They have his Early Bird rights, which allows them to give him a starting salary worth up to 105 percent of the average salary this season without dipping into their cap space, but he figures to command more on the open market.

Depending on where the cap falls, the Pistons should have somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million in cap space this offseason. That should allow them to re-sign Wood and continue rounding out their young core alongside him, Luke Kennard and Sekou Doumbouya.

Rather than target past-their-prime veterans like Paul Millsap or Marc Gasol, the Pistons should instead drive up the price on restricted free agents such as Malik Beasley or De’Anthony Melton. Adding players on a similar developmental timeline as Wood, Doumbouya and Kennard should be among their top priorities in free agency.