Why the Pistons, Spurs, and Rockets Stood Pat at the Trade Deadline
Third Apron's trade deadline reaction series concludes with an analysis on three major teams that chose not to push their chips in at the trade deadline: the Pistons, Spurs, and Rockets.
Third Apron has quickly emerged as a leader in NBA salary cap and transaction analysis in its first year of operation. February was dedicated to reacting to every deal made ahead of the trade deadline with 10 articles and counting. This week will be dedicated to discussing some of the more inactive teams.
The trades are over for now, but Third Apron doesn’t plan on slowing down its output. The next few months are planned with plenty of content covering the lead-up to the 2026 offseason.
March and April will be dedicated to a new project: player contract evaluations. The 100 most significant upcoming player negotiations will be previewed in-depth. It will be an extensive series analyzing the market value for upcoming free agents and extension-eligible players, broken down into many categories. Now should be a good time with enough of the regular season complete.
Then May and June will have the return of last year’s team offseason preview series. Every team’s offseason objectives and salary cap dynamics will be analyzed to get you prepped for the offseason. They will be accompanied by mock offseason videos for each team with guests on the Third Apron podcast. Then, the rest of the summer will be focused on reacting to all of free agency.
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The trade deadline came and went, and a handful of teams chose to be inactive despite having the means to make significant additions. These are franchises that have dramatically exceeded expectations this season and, for now, are content to enjoy the ride.
The most notable team fitting that description is the Pistons. After a significant improvement in 2024-25 that saw them return to the playoffs, they now sit atop the Eastern Conference. They’re 4.5 games over the second seed, separating themselves from the essential three-way tie between the Celtics, Knicks, and Cavaliers.
Their identity starts on the defensive end. Their 108.3 defensive rating ranks second in the league behind only the Thunder, and it gives them a reliable floor throughout the regular season. On top of that, Cade Cunningham is putting together a potential All-NBA First Team season, and he currently sits third in MVP odds on most betting sites.
Detroit's early hot start naturally fueled speculation that they might be the next team to make an all-in move for an All-Star. But in the weeks leading up to the deadline, the expectation league-wide was that they would hold off on anything major. And they were right to do so, even if that caution cost them a potentially higher ceiling in the Finals.
Organizationally, they may want to take things slow. They've already made incremental progress just by positioning themselves for a second-round appearance. And the moment they make that defining trade, the pressure and expectations shift entirely. Why raise the stakes in the middle of an already remarkable season?
The other and more important reason for their inactivity is that the front office is still in information-gathering mode. They have a young team with several players approaching significant raises on their next contracts. The roster works now in part because most of these players are still on their rookie-scale deals. That element shifts meaningfully once extensions and new contracts start hitting the books.
