Detroit Pistons fans have spent years pining over second-round picks and undrafted players, hoping beyond hope that they will turn into a star, or at least a rotation staple. Our delusion and subsequent disappointment were exacerbated by the few hidden gems not getting their shine until they were given away for practically nothing (see Khris Middleton, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Bruce Brown in years 13, 11, and seven of their NBA careers, respectively).
Well, it looks like Trajan Langdon and co. have found their first gem in Daniss Jenkins. His play on both sides of the ball has all but cemented his place in the rotation. This is an impressive feat for a guy who doesn’t even have a spot on the main roster, a reality that must change at some point if he maintains this level of play. Jenkins is currently on a one-year, two-way contract in his second year with the Pistons. While on his two-way contract, he can only be on the active roster for 50 games and is ineligible to play in the postseason. Jenkins has been on the active roster for every game so far this season, meaning he has already used 15 of his 50 allotted games (even though he has only played in 9 of them). Needless to say, it’s not a matter of if Jenkins will be converted to a standard contract; it’s a matter of when and how.
The Pistons have two main routes they can take:
1. Convert Jenkins to a minimum contract for the rest of the season
2. Use an available exception to negotiate a new contract with Jenkins
(Note: Pistons can do this at any point before the end of the regular season, but if they wait until March 4 or later, they will not be able to fill that two-way spot with another player)
In this scenario, the Pistons can unilaterally convert Jenkins to a standard minimum contract for the remainder of the season (no negotiation required), and he would occupy one of the Pistons’ 15 roster spots (more on that later). His salary would be prorated based on the number of days remaining in the regular season, and he would become a restricted free agent this summer. The Pistons would hold his Early Bird Rights, meaning they can sign Jenkins for up to four years with a first year salary of up to 175% of his previous salary or 105% of the league average salary for the previous season, whichever is higher, and up to 8% annual raises (based on the first year salary, not compounding each year). The league average salary this season is around $12.7 million; 105% of that is about $13.3 million, which is larger than 175% of the minimum, so the max the Pistons could offer Jenkins this summer in this scenario is roughly 4 years/ $59.6 million.
Because Jenkins would be a restricted free agent with only two years of NBA experience, and the Pistons would have his Early Bird Rights, Jenkins would fall under the Arenas provision. This provides Detroit with additional pathways to keeping Jenkins, should another team give him a larger offer sheet. For example, if a cap room team wanted to offer Jenkins a four-year, $80 million deal, the first-year salary is limited to what the Pistons could match using Early Bird Rights (or non-taxpayer mid-level exception, but Early Bird is more advantageous for Pistons in this scenario). So here is what the offer sheet would need to look like:
Year
Salary
Comment
2026-27
$13,300,000
Early Bird first year max: 105% of 2025-26 average salary
2027-28
$13,965,000
5% raise on first-year salary, max raise allowed between year 1 and 2
2028-29
$25,787,286
Salary only limited to the max third-year salary for a player with 1-2 years in NBA
2029-30
$26,947,714
4.5% raise on third-year salary, max raise allowed between year 3 and 4
Total
$80,000,000
Average Annual Value: $20,000,000
If Detroit were to choose to match this offer, this would be the structure of the deal throughout the life of the contract. If they were to decline to match, the team who made the offer sheet would have to smooth out the deal to be a flat $20M/yr for each of the four years.
I don’t expect Jenkins to command more than the $60M the Pistons can pay him using Early Bird rights in Free Agency, but at least they have options should they want to match a bigger offer sheet.
Teams are also allowed to negotiate a new contract with a two-way player using cap room or an available cap exception. Of these options, the Pistons currently only have access to their Bi-Annual exception. In this case, the Pistons could offer Jenkins up to $5,134,000 for the rest of this season with an additional year at $5,390,700, for a total of two years and $10,524,700. If both sides agree to this contract (or a similar two-year deal), Jenkins would become a restricted free agent in 2027, and the Pistons would have his full Bird Rights. It is also important to note that using the Bi-Annual exception on Jenkins this year would mean the Pistons won’t have access to it this summer.
In this scenario, Pistons can push off the larger payday for another year and avoid the complexities of a potential Arenas provision offer sheet, while still maintaining the right to match a potential offer sheet with Full Bird Rights to work with in 2027.
There is still the issue of the Pistons not currently having an open roster spot for Jenkins, so converting him will require an additional roster move. They can cut Isaac Jones relatively easily due to his non-guaranteed contract, but losing a big man to add another guard to an already crowded rotation is a risk. Sasser is the other obvious casualty, given his positional overlap with Jenkins, but he is already on the books next year for $5.2M; trading him would be a preferable route. Thankfully, if Jenkins continues to be on the active roster for each game, he won’t hit the 50-game cap until Feb. 9 (four days after the Trade Deadline). This gives the Pistons plenty of time to create a roster spot by trading Sasser or by sending out a few players in exchange for a player who makes more.
The Pistons have a lot of optionality with Jenkins moving forward. I expect the Pistons to convert him to a minimum deal for the rest of the season after the trade deadline, so they can have a better idea of Ivey’s and Duren’s contract situations before locking into a number with Jenkins. That being said, if Trajan gets the sense that Jenkins will command more than $5.4M next season, getting him locked in for another season and kicking the can down the road another year might prove savvy, if Jenkins agrees to the BAE deal. At the end of the day, the Pistons are in a great position to finally profit from finding a diamond in the rough. Let’s hope they take full advantage!
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