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The financial ramifications of the deal for the Pistons are obvious — Calderon’s $10.5 million comes off the books after this season.
If they do nothing else through the Feb. 21 trade deadline, Charlie Villanueva picks up his $8.5-million option for next season, and they decide to keep Rodney Stuckey for the full $8.5 million for next season, the Pistons will be roughly $20 million-$23 million under the cap. If they decide to invoke the amnesty clause on Villanueva during a weeklong window in July and cut Stuckey (they would owe him $4 million) before the June 30 deadline, the total could move to roughly $30 million-$35 million.
The cap space means the Pistons could be players in free agency next summer. A more likely outcome is the Pistons being in position to facilitate a trade with a team looking to dump a good player for financial reasons.
But don’t discount the Pistons trying to keep Calderon — at a reasonable price.
— Reported by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press
