10:01am: Gibson’s 10-day contract is now official, the Pistons confirmed in a press release (Twitter link). It will run through next Friday, March 15.
8:42am: The Pistons are set to sign veteran big man Taj Gibson to a 10-day contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Gibson, 38, spent a portion of this season with the Knicks, having signed a non-guaranteed contract with the team in December.
He was waived on January 7 before his full salary could become guaranteed, then returned to New York on a pair of 10-day deals in January and February. However, the club opted not to bring him back on a rest-of-season contract when the second of those deals expired.
At this point in his career, Gibson is most valued more for his veteran leadership and presence in the locker room, which is presumably why the Pistons want to add him to their young roster. However, he did appear in 16 games for the Knicks this season, averaging 1.0 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 10.3 MPG.
The Pistons recently opened up a pair of roster spots by waiving Mike Muscala and Shake Milton, so they’re only carrying 13 players on standard contracts. Even after signing Gibson, they’ll still have an opening on their 15-man roster.
Gibson will earn $183,704 over the course of his 10 days with Detroit, while the club carries a cap hit of $116,075.
Assuming the deal is finalized on Wednesday or Thursday, he’ll be under contract for the Pistons’ next five games before the team would have to decide whether to re-sign him or let him go.
Dude just can’t retire…
Why retire if a team is willing to you $183k for a month of sitting on the bench?
Good and surprising move. He can add His veteran leadership AND locker room presence, and hope he can pass that torch to another veteran, to be the next Taj for the Pistons future, for 5+ 10+ years. I see Taj as a great coach when he retires.
I’m surprised the Suns never signed Taj Gibson.
Knicks did him dirty, just give him the roster spot.
Sadly, Taj showed this season that he has nothing left to contribute on the court.
You clearly did not watch any game Taj played in for the Knicks. Dude was gassed just running up and down the court. Love Taj but there’s almost nothing left in the tank.
Doesn’t matter on playoff contenders like the Knicks you need a player assistant coach like Haslem was all that time in Miami. Also just adds size depth.
You absolutely do not have to waste a roster spot on someone who brings no value to the team except locker room presence unless you’re an inexperienced team. The Knicks have Bojan Bogdanovic, Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson, Alec Burks, etc. It’s not like they’re hurting for experienced leaders who can be a voice in the locker room.
They do not need a player/assistant coach if the ‘player’ part of him is negative value. Just bring him in as an assistant if you need the leadership that badly.
I said it a week ago. Now waive Troy Brown, Flynn, Evan F and two way Rhoden then sign Corey Joseph or ish Smith, Danny Green, H Diallo and two way John Butler
Or keep Evan Fournier and forget Green or Diallo
Called this a week ago in the Wiseman article
When you would expect the Pistons to have a look at some young players, they bring in a 38 y.o on the verge of retirement. Surely his 10 days of leadership will turn the franchise around.
He is a smart player. Perhaps they want him to help them evaluate their bigs.
It’s a 10-day contract. The NYK couldn’t give Taj another one of those, and apparently didn’t want to commit to a rest of the year contract at this point. There are likely other guys in play. The NYK still have 2 roster standard roster spots available, and as of this week will have enough money under the Tax Line to fill both at minimum wage. If nothing else materializes, and Taj doesn’t get a real contract in DET, I still think it’s 50/50 that he’ll be back with the NYK before the end of the year.
NYK paid Taj over 700K this year (total) to get off his couch for 6-7 weeks of exercise. Good for his health (physical and financial). He wasn’t screwed.