Oct 28, 2015; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores throws t-shirts to fans during the game against the Utah Jazz at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons won 92-87. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Pistons could be getting close to the luxury tax if they came to an extension Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. For that reason, many wonder whether or not the Pistons will be able to keep him. However, team owner Tom Gores has recently said that he’s willing to pay the price should a deal be struck.

The Detroit Pistons hope to strike a deal with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but the cost of extending him would put the Pistons awfully close to paying the luxury tax.

Some wonder if the Pistons are willing to do that. While Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Bower make the calls, it’s really up to Tom Gores and if he’s willing to pay that price.

Good news for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope–Gores is willing to pay up.

Via Detroit Free Press:

Q: With a possible KCP extension, you could threaten the luxury tax line (an NBA mechanism to curtail teams’ spending). Thoughts on being a luxury taxpayer? Gores: “Look, if we weren’t building a core, there’s really no point in paying the luxury tax. Because we are building a core, would I do it? Yeah, absolutely. This is a tremendous team. If you go down the line, player by player, and especially our young folks, these are real players. You look at KCP as a very diverse player. He keeps working at his game and you look at his improvement and just like anybody else, he will improve in other areas. Part of Stan’s coaching philosophy obviously is defense. So you say go into the luxury tax for nothing, then that would be silly because then we’re putting the franchise behind. But given that we have such a good core, if that’s what it took, and we feel we’ve made such progress this year, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it because we want to keep getting better.”

This is good news for Stan Van Gundy.

While both Gores and Van Gundy would like to avoid the luxury tax, knowing that you have the blessing from the owner goes a long way. The Pistons can now enter into contract negotiations knowing that they can go into the luxury tax as a last resort, should Caldwell-Pope’s contract push the Pistons’ over the cap.

Now we wait and see what happens.