If you weren’t aware of Trajan Langdon and his cap maneuvering abilities before, you’ve now been put on notice. 

All season, we’ve seen Trajan Langdon manipulate and maneuver the salary cap in ways that have most people furious for a few minutes, only to see his full plan after the fact. It was something he was goat’d for back when he was with New Orleans. Him, along with Michael Blackstone, Detroit’s newest executive vice president of basketball operations, have been referred to in some circles as the Batman and Robin of contract acquisition and manipulation. 

Go back to when Bball Paul Reed was cut at the beginning of the season. People were outraged, myself included. Reed may be a third big off the bench, but his energy is infectious. Who didn’t love Bball Paul? After a day or two of panic, Reed was resigned to a veteran’s minimum, saving Detroit even more money and setting themselves up even better moving forward. That was Trajan’s plan all along, and it was ingenious. Paul was never leaving, Langdon and company just needed to add to their already league leading cap space.

Fast forward to the trade deadline, and Trajan did it again. Rather than take the bait on guys needing big contracts like Brandon Ingram, Trajan put together a deal with Philly for KJ Martin, an athletic, 6’6 wing. The 24 year old isn’t having a stellar year, but could still be of value to a franchise. However, it’s not necessarily KJ Martin that has me excited, but how Trajan is made the contract work, and what he did thereafter.

What makes the move so smart from Langdon, is that Martin makes around $9 million. The MLE (mid-level exception) contract that Detroit had to use is just about $8 million, which is almost the same amount Martin was making. So Martin could be signed to an MLE, and the move would use up essentially zero of their cap space. Detroit could have brought Martin here while retaining pretty much all their leverage, money-wise. And they’re only able to do this thanks to the salary cap gymnastics Trajan did earlier in the year. 

With that being said, Trajan didn’t stop there. He wound up getting in on the Jimmy Butler mega-trade, flipped KJ Martin, and got Detroit exactly what they needed. A secondary ball-handler and creator in the form of Dennis Schroder. Dennis will most likely run the second unit, and probably close out some games alongside Cade. Bravo Trajan. Perfecto *Chef’s kiss*.

Not for nothing, but he also collected two more second round draft picks and Lindy Waters. But, players aside, Trajan’s cap space acrobatics thus far in Detroit deserves a fucking medal.