Fourth-year big man and Pistons want a max deal, but Detroit has incentive to wait until next off-season to sign him Andre Drummond knew the question was coming. The Oct. 31 deadline to sign a contract extension looms and everyone wants to know if it will happen. But the Detroit Pistons’ fourth-year center said at media day today that he was going to keep thoughts about his contract status to himself. “Everybody comes to a point in time in their career when they are going to deal with contract situations, and it’s better that I keep it as a personal thing and just focus on what I can control right now, which is making my team better," Drummond said on the eve of training camp. There are many things to resolve during the month before the Oct. 27 season opener at Atlanta, and Drummond's contract situation is at the top of the list. But things are tricky. Drummond wants to sign the maximum extension, worth around $120 million over five years. And the Pistons are committed to the center who spent one season at UConn before becoming the Pistons’ first-round pick in 2012. Then what’s the problem? The Pistons would like to wait and put off the extension until next off-season. If Drummond agreed, his hold of only $8.2 million would count against the 2016-17 salary cap, not the $20-million hold if he were to sign before Oct. 31. The Pistons could use that roughly $12 million during the league’s free agency period – and then use their Bird Rights on Drummond to go over the salary cap and retain their own free agent. - See more at: http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2015/09/28/detroit-pistons-andre-drummond/72998438/
