Pistons Interest in OG Anunoby May Pose a Problem for the Raptors

The Detroit Pistons are said to be interested in OG Anunoby but that may pose a problem for the Toronto Raptors in trade talks this season

The Detroit Pistons may throw a wrench into OG Anunoby’s trade value this year.

On one hand, there’s reportedly good news for the Toronto Raptors. The Detroit Pistons are among the teams said to be interested in acquiring Anunoby, per The Athletic’s James L Edwards III. Despite Detroit’s 2-23 record this season, the Pistons would like to take a step forward and view Anunoby as the type of player that can help them do that.

For Toronto, the more teams interested in trading for Anunoby, the more valuable he should be at the trade deadline. A bidding war is great for the Raptors.

But there’s another side to the Pistons interest that should be concerning. As Edwards writes, the Pistons may prefer to wait until Anunoby reaches unrestricted free agency this summer and try to sign him then to avoid having to give up any young players or future draft picks.

Detroit could have as much as $66 million in projected cap space with its current roster, per Spotrac. That number could get even bigger if the Pistons wanted to free up cap space with a trade either this season or in the summer.

That makes the Pistons a threat to go after Anunoby the way the Houston Rockets went after Fred VanVleet last summer. While Toronto could still offer Anunoby more money and more term than any other team in free agency, if the Raptors are unwilling to make Anunoby a max contract offer, Toronto, or any team that acquires Anunoby this season, runs the risk that he could walk into another team’s cap space for nothing.

What’s further complicating this is the fact that nobody can extend Anunoby because his max extension offer is significantly less than what he’d be worth in free agency. There’s no incentive for Anunoby to negotiate a deal this season with Toronto or anyone else in the league.

While it’s certainly helpful to have multiple teams bidding for Anunoby this season, anyone who is willing to wait for the summer to go after the All-Defense forward and has the cap space to sign him poses a serious threat not just to Toronto but anyone interested in keeping Anunoby around long-term.