Sources: Kings, Pistons turn Dennis Schroder into sign-and-trade deal

The Sacramento Kings will be adding veteran point guard Dennis Schroder, who decided to sign with the team in free agency, by way of a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons, league sources told ClutchPoints on Wednesday evening.

After lengthy discussions with the Pistons when the free agency period opened, the two sides moved on from the idea of expanding Schroder’s departure from Detroit into a sign-and-trade agreement. The Kings have been searching the trade market to move combo guard Malik Monk, sources said, and their conversations with the Pistons on Monday night, when free agency began, revolved around the idea of including him.

Ultimately, no immediate deal involving Monk developed. That led to reports of Schroder signing with the Kings outright on a three-year, $45 million contract. Sacramento has been seeking ways to maintain overall cap flexibility while discussing Monk trade scenarios, which is why they have circled back to the idea of acquiring Schroder by way of a sign-and-trade with the Pistons, sources said.

In doing so, the Kings will be absorbing Schroder’s incoming $14 million salary by utilizing their $16.8 million traded player exception, which was created when the team sent Kevin Huerter to the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline. Huerter was involved in the three-team trade that resulted in De’Aaron Fox joining the San Antonio Spurs.

Financially, the Kings maintain their $14.1 million MLE in free agency this offseason and will be hard-capped at the first apron since they will be acquiring a player in a sign-and-trade agreement.

The Pistons are the intriguing part of this Schroder deal.

Since Detroit is now sending the veteran point guard out in a sign-and-trade, they can take back close to $23 million in player salaries or generate a traded player exception equal to Schroder’s new contract for the 2025-26 season, assuming they don’t take back any salary.

This has already been a busy free agency period for the Pistons and executive Trajan Langdon, as the team added Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson over the first few days to replace Schroder, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Malik Beasley. Robinson is joining Detroit by way of a sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat, which also hard-caps the Pistons at the first apron for the upcoming year.

Even with this hard cap, the Pistons still have a lot of financial flexibility to fill out their remaining roster spots.

At this time, the details of the Schroder sign-and-trade between the Kings and Pistons are actively being sorted through. This deal is likely to be expanded upon, especially with Sacramento continuing to explore avenues to move Monk.

It is unknown if the Pistons will want to add the 27-year-old guard after initial sign-and-trade conversations centered around the Kings trading him to Detroit stalled.

The two sides will continue to work toward a complete resolution before free agency deals can be finalized on June 6.