According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Detroit Pistons are planning to place a waiver claim on a pair of recently released players, Alondes Williams and Cole Swider. Charania said that both players will receive 2-way contracts.
The Detroit Pistons are signing guard Alondes Williams to a two-way NBA deal, sources tell ESPN. Williams spent training camp with the Clippers after playing eight games for Miami and Brooklyn over last two NBA seasons.
Free agent F Cole Swider plans to sign a two-way NBA contract with the Detroit Pistons, sources tell ESPN. The former Lakers and Heat shooter averaged nearly eight points for the Pacers in preseason.
Detroit Pistons Plan On Inking A Pair Of Recently Released Players
Detroit entered training camp with one open two-way deal available. However, a second spot opened up following the Pistons‘ release of Tosun Evbuomwan, who spent last year on a two-way deal, on October 1contractollowing his release by Detroit, Evbuoman signed with the Clippers and was subsequently waived. He is expected to join the G-League San Diego Clippers as an affiliate player.
Since Detroit doesn’t intend to put either Williams or Swider on standard contracts, it must wait until the players clear waivers. Swider will be able to sign with the Pistons on Sunday, while Williams won’t be able to sign until Monday.
Williams and Swider
Williams has spent most of their professional career in the G-League after going undrafted out of Wake Forest in 2022. The 6-5 guard, who has appeared in eight NBA games, took a significant step forward last season. The 2024 NBA G-League First Team selection was a Next Up All-Star participant last season and earned the league’s Most Improved Award.
After being released by the Miami Heat during the summer, the 25-year-old signed a training camp deal with the Clippers on September 28. Williams averaged 4.0 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.4 rebounds with a shooting slash line of 40/10/75 in 12 minutes over five appearances. His best performance came against the Nets, where he tallied 10 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.
While Swider has played more games in the G-League since going undrafted in 2022 out of Syracuse, he has spent most of his time in the NBA. The 6-8 forward, known for his shooting, has appeared in 25 games, including 18 last year with the Miami Heat; However, he has not seen much time in his appearances.
The reason Swider has spent most of the time in the NBA despite being on two-way deals is that he has proven he is an NBA-caliber player who has been fantastic during the preseason and summer league. He just hasn’t been able to do enough to be a regular rotational player.
Like Williams, Swider was released by the Heat in July. In August, he signed with Indiana on an Exhibit 10 deal.
The 25-year-old forward compiled 7.7 points as he made 1.5 treys with a shooting slash line of 34.5/31.8/1.00. He also grabbed 3.7 rds and doled out 1.2 assists over 16.5 minutes in four appearances. He scored in double-figures twice and grabbed at least five rebounds.
Detroit Pistons Roster Situation
Williams and Swider join Daniss Jenkins on a two-way deal. Jenkins, who went undrafted out of St. John’s in 2024, had a decent summer league and a productive final preseason contest.
Even though the Pistons’ three-way spots are now filled, Detroit could make some roster moves. The Pistons have 14 players on standard contracts, although Paul Reed‘s deal doesn’t guarantee it until January. It would be a huge surprise if Reed were cut. They are over $10 million under the salary cap.
As a result of them having an open roster spot and salary cap room, Sportac’s Keith Smith said that Detroit could be a landing spot if teams are looking to cut salary.
Talking to teams this morning, there are a lot of trade conversations from luxury tax teams involving moving off some salary. Teams are angling to move some salary to create openings to keep other players.
The Detroit Pistons have an open roster spot and are sitting on $10.2M in cap space. Detroit has let teams know they are open to eating smaller salaries, provided they come with draft pick compensation, a league source told @spotrac.
