Team executives who spoke to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider Link) at the G League Winter Showcase over the weekend identified this Pistons as an important team to keep an eye on as the February 6th trade deadline approaches.

Detroit is the only NBA club currently operating under that cap, with about $14 million in available cap space. Many teams in the league are either prohibited from reclaiming additional salaries due to their position with respect to the tax liens or are unwilling to reclaim additional salaries due to their proximity to the tax threshold. These financial constraints should put the Pistons in a great position to act as a third-team agent on one or more contracts before the deadline.

While $14 million is nice wiggle room, it could quickly disappear depending on which players the Pistons take back. Therefore, the front office will likely be cautious about what deals it makes and use this limited wiggle room as leverage to try to get the best possible benefits from its potential trade partners.

Here’s more about the pistons:

• Simone Fontecchiowho signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the Pistons in July, played a modest role as a backup this season, with his minutes dropped to 18.2 mpg after averaging 30.3 mpg last season the route had. However, the veteran winger had one of his best games of the year on Monday in Los Angeles, scoring 13 points on a perfect shooting night (4 of 4 from the field and 3 of 3 from the line) as Detroit completed a series win over the Lakers, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. The Pistons, who won the game by three points, outscored LA by 19 points in Fontecchio’s 19 minutes of play.
• The 37th overall pick in this year’s draft, Bobi Klintman spent most of the fall recovering from a calf injury and was active for the first time of the season on Monday. Although Klintman didn’t play at all, head coach JB Bickerstaff said it was good to have the rookie forward on the team and available to play. “It’s great for him to be part of the team that selected him,” said Bickerstaff (Twitter link via Sankofa). “…He had a weird injury that held him back and it was a long road.”
• About a year after he told reporters during a record-setting losing streak that change was needed, Pistons owner said Tom Gores Hunter Patterson of The Athletic and other media members told halftime on Monday that he was “really proud” of what he had seen from the team this season. Detroit has a new head coach (Bickerstaff) and director of basketball operations (Trajan Langdon) since last year and Gores praised both men for the work they have done so far. “He has a steady hand” Gores said of Langdon. “He does an incredible job organizing it. Same with JB, so I give him a lot of credit.”
• In case you missed it, Cade Cunningham won Player of the Week honors for the first time in his four-year career on Monday.