Only two players from the normal rotation for the 2024–25 season will be eligible to sign with other teams this summer, and one of those players will be on restricted free agency. However, the club might still have to shell out a significant penny to hold on to him.
On his eponymous show, Zach Lowe said that big man Santi Aldama, who has been in the league for four years, is likely to get an offer sheet for the entire amount of the mid-level exemption that does not affect taxpayers. Lowe doubled down on the concept that the MLE was the correct price for Aldama and specifically brought up the Detroit Pistons as a possible suitor for Aldama’s signing.
He refrained from referring to the Pistons link as a report, instead presenting it as more of an idea.
[…] Because Santi Aldama has full mid-level deals, I think, waiting for him. At least that’s the scuttlebutt I’ve heard: that he is sought after enough by a team like Detroit, for instance, with the full mid-level. There’s a lot of teams with the full mid-level. He’s an interesting kind of combination of skills, and I think they’re going to have to pay to retain him. And when you have full mid-level deals, if you do in the open market, your incumbent team might have to pay a little bit more than that using your bird rights to do it, and then they’d have the salary cap room exception on top of that.
Grizzlies Have Some Money, But Few Spots
While the exact amount of the mid-level exceptions will not be known until next week – pending as they are the NBA’s annual financial audit, which takes place during the July free agency moratorium – the NBA’s most recent official estimate put the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level for the 2025-26 season as being $14,104,000. Deals signed via the mid-level exception have a maximum non-compounded annual salary increase of up to 108% of the amount of the first season of the contract, and are for up to a maximum of four years in length.
A maximum four-year pact for Aldama using that estimated MLE amount, then, would look like this:
- 2025-26: $14,104,000
- 2026-27: $15,232,320
- 2027-28: $16,360,640
- 2028-29: $17,488,960
- Total: $63,185,920
That is a lot of money for a back-up. And in his four-year NBA career to date, that is what Aldama has been. Across his four seasons with the Grizzlies to date, Aldama has started only 71 games, including only 16 of his 65 appearances last season, and no path to a regular starting spot will open up any time soon.
Grizzlies May Nevertheless Get Good Value
In fairness, however, Aldama is no ordinary backup.
Generally, the Spanish international comes into the game in place of regular Grizzlies starting center Zach Edey, and does everything Edey does not. Last season, Aldama averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists in only 25.5 minutes per game, shooting 36.8% from three-point range on five attempts per game, and being every inch the face-up, dribble-drive, spot-up, perimeter-based rangy five man, instead of one armed with sheer paint size like Edey.
There is a lot of money in the modern game for players of Aldama’s style. For example, Naz Reid – whose statistical output is incredibly similar to that of Aldama, albeit in a different body type – will receive $125 million to re-sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves once free agency reopens. A full MLE for Aldama, as above, will cost only about half that amount. Perhaps, then, the Grizzlies will be able to get a bargain
Pistons Are A Logical Pairing
Admittedly, the Pistons have been linked to players at every position in the free agency rumor mill, with Jonathan Kuminga of the Golden State Warriors and Nickeil Alexander-Walker of the Timberwolves being two of the most closely-linked names. Nonetheless, they have also had several centers attached to them in the lead-up to the free agency period.
Despite already having Isaiah “Beef Stew” Stewart in the position, the Pistons seemingly have rangier floor-spacing options at the five spot on their radar as well. The aforementioned Reid was one, and Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers has also been said to have drawn the Pistons’ interest. Both of them have floor-spacing ability in common. And Aldama would do too.
For the last two seasons, the Pistons have had the lowest payroll in the NBA, and as a result have no bad contracts. Indeed, in the light of the concerning news regarding the US District Attorney’s Office investigation into current Pistons guard Malik Beasley, they may find they have more money to spend than they had anticipated. The Grizzlies will have matching rights on Aldama via the qualifying offer they extended him earlier today, and should be expected to use them – nevertheless, Aldama’s price is about to go way up, as Reid’s removal from the open market bumped him one spot further up it.
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