The Detroit Pistons are among the NBA’s most-flexible teams financially.

Troy Weaver has spent much of his 3½-year tenure as general manager cleaning up the books. There are no longer any albatross contracts weighing down their future. In the midst of a sinking season, the time has finally arrived for them to cash in again.

The Pistons’ rosy cap outlook was among many topics at the top of owner Tom Gores’ mind as he spoke with some local media late Friday night, roughly 24 hours after their 25th consecutive loss — one short of the NBA’s in-season record — prompted “sell the team“ chants at Little Caesars Arena.

Even if the Pistons had five or six wins instead of a paltry two (they’re a league-worst 2-27 after Saturday’s record tying loss in Brooklyn), they would still be well short of the expectations set by Gores and the front office before the season. They expected at least a modest improvement from last year’s 17-65 finish. At least 25-to-30 wins was considered realistic. A play-in push was a vaguer, but still possible, best-case scenario.

Detroit, instead, has regressed substantially. It’s clear the roster lacks sufficient shooting, depth and defensive difference-makers. Losing 50 of 54 games since Feb. 11, the franchise needs some sort of jolt to change its fortunes around. It’s not just about ending the streak — Pistons brass wants to make a move that will help the team stay competitive in the long run as well.

While Gores didn’t state it outright, the Free Press is hearing they’re specifically looking to add veteran talent and address glaring areas of need on the roster.

For now, the plan isn’t to part ways with Weaver or tweak the first-year coaching staff. The team believes it has the resources to make a splash in the trade market, and sees it as the logical next step.

“Number 1, we have an amazing set of young players,” Gores said. “Number 2, we have set ourselves up in the way our contracts are flexible. We had all these contracts that saddled us, we couldn’t be nimble. We are also set up with a lot of cap space, and you know I’m willing to do whatever it takes for this organization to be successful. As much as the vision feels blurry, to me it’s the same feel I had at the beginning of the season of a bright future. I still have that.

“We have a problem, we’ve lost way too many games,” he continued later. “We’re not stuck in it, though. We’re nimble, and we can bounce from this. We have a tremendous amount of cap space, some of the most in the NBA.”

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The Pistons will again be among the cap space leaders next summer, with roughly $39 projected to be available. That, along with the number of expiring contracts on the roster, gives them maneuverability as the Feb. 8, 2024 trade deadline approaches.

Veterans Joe Harris ($19.9 million), Alec Burks ($10.5 million) and Monte Morris ($9.8 million) will all come off the books after this season. Bojan Bogdanovic is also essentially on an expiring contract, as only $2 million of his $19 million owed next season is guaranteed.

It positions the Pistons as a natural match for teams looking to unload salary. But if the Pistons want to swing for an All-Star caliber player, they will be limited by their lack of available draft capital. They still owe a future first-round pick (now owned by the New York Knicks) thanks to their 2020 draft-night trade for Isaiah Stewart.

The Stepien Rule prevents teams from trading future first-round picks in consecutive drafts, meaning the Pistons can only offer a distant 2029 or 2030 first due to the pick’s protections through 2027. The Pistons do have a core of young players who can be included in any deals, though.

The pressure is now on for Weaver, who has made a deal by the trade deadline each season since he took over in 2020, to swing the most pivotal in-season trade of his tenure. He has prioritized reclamation projects, adding James Wiseman last February and Marvin Bagley III a year prior. This time, he won’t have that luxury. The Pistons need an immediate difference-maker.

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“I am expecting change,” Gores said. “I do expect Troy to come up with change. Because staying exactly the same, I don’t think anyone can be here and say that in any genuine way that change is not required. I expect Troy to find ways to (make) us more successful. I do expect him to find ways, and he knows that. And if we did nothing to improve ourselves, I’m going to be disappointed. I’m going to be disappointed. And I think Troy knows that.”

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Gores, for now, is trusting Weaver will find a way to course correct as the team navigates a worst-case start to the season. A lot of bad evaluations have led the team to this point, and Gores said he and Weaver are responsible. The team punted on free agency this past offseason, believing the roster to be more ready than it is.

The young players haven’t taken the necessary leaps. The veterans have either been unavailable due to injury, and haven’t made an impact on the floor when healthy. No one player will save the team this season, but the hope is adding more experience to the court and balancing the roster will help to produce long-term stability.

“We expected a lot more,” Gores said. “We have to be real in that there are some things that haven’t been working with the makeup of the team. Even when it comes down to, should have won a few more games, but how many of those games? Maybe three, four? Who knows what that number is. We’re not set up like the way we need to be set up. Nobody’s fooling each other that we’re there in any way. Of course I expect change. I do.”

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.

Check out "The Pistons Pulse", your go-to weekly Detroit Pistons podcast, co-hosted by Omari available anywhere you listen (Apple, Spotify).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons' Tom Gores wants change: How that can happen soon