Stan Van Gundy and the Detroit Pistons traded for former Oklahoma City Thunder backup point guard Reggie Jackson at last season’s trade deadline, and while many of his free agent cohorts have agreed to mammoth deals with their respective teams, things remained mum on Jackson’s free agency front until this weekend.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Jackson inked a massive five-year, $80 million extension with the Pistons on Sunday evening, illustrating the belief Van Gundy has in Jackson as Detroit’s point guard of the future.
Restricted free-agent guard Reggie Jackson has reached agreement on a five-year, $80 million extension with the Detroit Pistons, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Pistons president and coach Stan Van Gundy wanted to fully commit to Jackson as one of the franchise’s cornerstones and will do so with a substantial investment of $16 million per season. There is no player option in the contract, league sources said.
After getting acclimated to things in Detroit, Jackson played stellar basketball for the Pistons, especially down the stretch of the season. Jackson averaged 18.6 points, 10.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds in his final eight games of the year, and averaged 17.6 points, 9.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game in his 27 games as a Piston.
Some may question the size of Jackson’s contract, but if his play at the end of last season is any indicator of the future, Van Gundy’s investment will prove to be a fruitful one. A fully healthy Pistons squad may very well scrap for one of the Eastern Conference’s lower seeds, and it’ll be up to Jackson as well as Andre Drummond, Brandon Jennings and rookie Stanley Johnson to lead that hopeful resurgence.
