The Pistons have signed center Isaiah Stewart to a four-year, $64 million deal, with the fourth year being a team option. If the fanbase is split on the move, Gator says it's partly because of expectations for this offseason:
"I think where it rubs Pistons fans the wrong way is that this was an offseason that we were all excited about, and it got dashed immediately because of the lottery, and then you get to free agency and trades and the Pistons didn’t really do a whole lot to improve the team. And now you sign a guy ahead of when you needed to sign him."
Stewart was under contract for another season, but GM Troy Weaver opted to lock him up now, believing the 22-year-old is one of the pillars of the Pistons' restoration and a central piece of their future.
Karsch says that $16 million per year is "potentially a $2 million overpay according to some metrics, but when the cap is $136 million, I don’t know that paying an extra $2 million to Isaiah Stewart is going to matter that much and I don’t think it’s going to block them from making any other move."
"The direction of this team is, they are counting on Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren being stars, and then they’re filling out the roster with support players: three-point guys like Joe Harris and Bojan Bogdanovic and guys like Isaiah Stewart. That’s how it’s being built, around that young trio of players blossoming into stars and then putting the right players around them to make a complete basketball team."
Stewart was reportedly a "coveted commodity" by rival teams on the trade market. While he's "not a player that gets you glam stats," says Karsch, "he’s the kind of player that clearly has value in this league because he does things that help teams win."
And ultimately, says Gator, he might turn out to be a bargain for Detroit:
"It’s not a terribly cumbersome contract. Four-year deal, $16 million a year, with a team option. So if there’s interest in him from around the league, he could also be flipped and it’s not a terrible contract for someone to take on. And if it works out for the Pistons, then you got him for cheap."
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