The Detroit Pistons are signing Summer League standout Jamorko Pickett to an Exhibit 10 contract that will see him suit up with the team for training camp, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac.
The deal was alluded to during Detroit’s Summer League finale against the Orlando Magic and Smith seems to confirm it. An Exhibit 10 deal is a fully unguaranteed contract and a bonus from $5,000 to $50,000.
The bonus confers if the player is named an affiliate player with the NBA squad’s G League team and sticks with the team for 60 days. Being named an affiliate player allows a team to protect a player from the G League draft and send them directly to their minor league club.
So the most likely scenario is Pickett sticks with the Pistons throughout camp and is waived shortly before the season begins and is named an affiliated player. He then goes directly to the Motor City Cruise.
Once on the Cruise, he would still be eligible to be promoted by any NBA team to their official roster. The only way for the Pistons to protect a player from being eligible to be called up by anyone but them would be to convert his deal to a two-way contract or a standard NBA deal.
Speaking of two-way deals, the Pistons formally announced they have their two two-way deals spoken for in second-round pick Luka Garza and undrafted free agent Chris Smith. Garza was the most consistent Pistons player throughout Summer League other than Cade Cunningham. Smith is still rehabbing an injury, but was projected as a first-round pick before tearing his ACL eight games into the college season.
Pickett was a standout with consistent 3-point shooting and a smooth stroke for a 6-foot-8 forward out of Georgetown. He averaged 9.8 points and shot 54% from the floor and 50% from 3 on nearly four attempts per game.
The Pistons’ offseason priority was adding perimeter threats in free agency and the draft, and Pickett joins a list of new players that includes Kelly Olynyk, Trey Lyles, Cunningham, and Garza.
NBA training camps are scheduled to open Sept. 28 with the regular season kicking off Oct. 19.