Pistons sign Mason Plumlee to three-year, $25M deal

The Pistons have agreed to a three-year, $25M deal with free-agent center Mason Plumlee, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Plumlee, who has served as Nikola Jokic‘s backup in Denver in recent years, is a solid, steady option in the middle who moves the ball well on offense. He averaged 7.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 2.5 APG in 61 games (17.3 MPG) for Denver in 2019-20.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes, the Pistons had about $10M in projected cap room before free agency began, so it sounds like a good chunk of that money will go to Plumlee. It’s not clear what this means for Christian Wood's future — he overlaps positionally with Plumlee to some extent, and this deal reduced the team’s cap flexibility. However, it’s possible that additional moves will reopen a path to re-signing Wood.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, have now lost one of their three frontcourt players who reached unrestricted free agency this evening. Denver is expected to make an effort to re-sign both Jerami Grant and Paul Millsap.