The Detroit Pistons filled one of its two open roster spots with the addition of Javonte Green. The news of the signing was first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN.
Though terms of the one-year deal are unknown, he’s never made more than $2.3 million in a season, and it feels like this would be in that veteran minimum territory.
The two most obvious holes on the Pistons roster are depth at point guard and backup power forward, and it doesn’t seem as if Green addresses either of those areas. He’s been a sneaky contributor on the wing during his six-year career, and is known as a reliably sturdy defender. His 2024-25 season was a bit of disaster, splitting time between an aimless and horrifically injured New Orleans Pelicans squad and as a rarely used piece on a stacked Cleveland Cavaliers roster.
He’s a player who doesn’t command a lot of offense, but he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes with the ball in his hands either. It feels like the Pistons were looking to add a reliable defender on the roster who can also be trusted to make a free throw, and someone who can serve as a mentor to the young guys who maybe can’t be trusted to knock one down from the line.
The 32-year-old can help mentor Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland, Detroit’s two highly touted versatile forwards. You can do worse than learning from a guy who is about all the right things, cut his teeth playing overseas for five years before carving out a real NBA career at the age of 26. He’s helped every squad he’s been on, but he’s a bench player, and bench depth at that.
If anything, it makes it more unlikely that the Pistons would even entertain adding the still-unsigned Malik Beasley to the roster. It feels like the Pistons are full up on 6-foot-4 wing types.