Pistons sign Lamar Stevens to training camp deal

Stevens will be reunited with his J.B. Bickerstaff in Detroit.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has brought some of his support staff with him to the Detroit Pistons. Assistant coaches Luke Walton and Sidney Lowe both served under Bickerstaff in Cleveland and made the move over this summer. The first former Cavalier player to join them is Lamar Stevens.

Priority Sports, Stevens’s agency, posted the news that he would be signing with the Pistons. Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press confirmed that this is a training camp deal. This would likely mean that it’s a one-year, non-guaranteed, minimum salary contract. The Pistons currently have 14 players on their roster and three other camp invites. Stevens would have a chance to claim the 15th spot.

Stevens joining Bickerstaff in Detroit isn’t surprising in the slightest. Bickerstaff appreciated Stevens’s energy and often found ways to get him on the court. His play embodied the spirit of the Junkyard Dog Chain that Bickerstaff gave out the last few seasons.

The Cavs originally signed Stevens, an undrafted rookie, to a two-way deal before the 2020-21 season. That deal was converted to a standard contract near the end of his rookie season. Stevens played three seasons with the Cavaliers where he averaged 5.3 points and 2.1 rebounds in 16 minutes per game.

Stevens was sent to the San Antonio Spurs in the three-team trade that landed the Cavs Max Strus last summer. The Spurs released him a couple of weeks later. He made the Boston Celtics out of camp last season but was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies at the deadline.