There is nary a peep coming out of NBA front offices and the reporters that cover them as NBA teams want to avoid leaking the details of contracts early when they are technically not allowed to begin negotiating with free agents until 6 p.m. In recent years rumors would fly about deals in the works hours before free agency and then, magically, one minute after free agency opened complicated multi-year deals would surface. Last season, teams even lost draft compensation for engaging with free agent too early.
I say all of that to admit that at this point we are in a “take what you can get” mode of free agent reporting. And the latest bit of info actually involves Victor Oladipo, a player previously connected to the Detroit Pistons.
Oladipo, most recently of the Miami Heat, is reportedly hoping to secure a starting spot and a $10 million in any new deal, according to John Gambadoro, a sports reporter in Arizona who covers the Suns.
Victor Oladipo would be a good fit for Phoenix but hearing he wants to go somewhere where he can start and that he likely will command in the $10 million range, which in all likelihood puts him out of reach as a free agent for the Suns, who will have the $6.5 taxpayer exception
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 30, 2022
There is no certainty whether that takes Oladipo off the table for the Pistons, but with the arrival of Alec Burks and the drafting of Jaden Ivey, I’m not sure how easily available a starting spot in Detroit would be.
The Pistons certainly have the financial means to provide Oladipo a one- or two-year deal at his asking price, but I’m also not sure how much sense it makes for Detroit considering its wealth of back court bodies and need to add size at the forward positions.
Then again, if Oladipo sticks to his guns then all the teams that only have the taxpayers mid-level exception would be out of the bidding.
Oladipo averaged 12.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists, but was limited to just eight games with the Miami Heat. Because of a series of nagging injuries, Oladipo has been limited to 36, 19, 33 and eight games the past four seasons.