Next July, the Bulls take $20 million in cap space they will have and start wooing free agent Ben Wallace.

The Bulls were a playoff team with Eddy Curry in the middle. With Wallace, they could be a title contender.

The Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks, the franchise closest to Wallace's home in Alabama, will be the two teams that come after Wallace the hardest.

But rest easy for now. The Pistons aren't going to let their foundation, the face of their organization, simply walk out of the door.

The Pistons have been prudently preparing for Wallace's eventual free agency the past few years. They should be in a position to reward him with the most lucrative contract offer in Pistons history.

Tayshaun Prince and the Detroit Pistons agreed in principle on a five-year contract worth $47 million, a person close to the negotiations said Sunday night.

Prince is expected to sign the deal Monday, before a deadline that would've made him a restricted free agent next summer, said the basketball source, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Prince has been a starter the last two seasons, helping Detroit win the 2004 NBA title and come within a quarter of repeating in June.

As a rookie, Prince went from being a seldom-used reserve to a key contributor as the Pistons advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in 2003.

The Detroit Pistons waived guard Todd Day ahead of Sunday's exhibition game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Day scored four points, had one rebound and one assist in 6 minutes during the Pistons' 95-88 win over Milwaukee on Thursday.

Day played for five teams from 1992 to 2001 and has averaged 12.3 points in his NBA career. Milwaukee selected Day out of Arkansas in the first round of the 1992 draft.

TayShaun Prince and the Pistons are apparently at an impasse in their talks concerning a contract extension.

After a couple days of discussions with Prince's agent, Bill Duffy, Joe Dumars said on Saturday that a deal had not been reached. He added, however, that there would be continuing talks.

When asked about negotiations on Saturday, Prince said, "We're nowhere as of this point. We haven't progressed. We just have to wait and see. We still got two weeks."

If a deal isn't reached by the start of the season, Prince will become a restricted free agent next summer. That would come at a time when the Pistons will be trying to hammer out a new deal for Ben Wallace, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The issue in Prince's case, as it is in most contract extensions, is money. A number of free agents this summer, including at least one at Prince's small forward position, received contracts from other teams that were far more lucrative than many expected.

At first, Ron Artest didn't want to appear in Penthouse magazine.

"I was going to shy away from it, with all the bad press I'm getting," the Indiana Pacers forward said. "But they gave me the opportunity to talk about my family and charities . . . things people don't know about me."

Artest will be featured in the December issue, which hits newsstands Oct. 25. He is shown on the cover with three bikini-clad women.

The interview reveals his gentler side. Of Pacers president Larry Bird, he says, "God put us together for a reason. He says he'd give up his salary for a year if 20 other millionaires would do the same to help poor people. And he agrees with Bill Cosby that poor African-Americans aren't doing enough to help themselves."

Artest also suggests that he and Ben Wallace box on pay-per-view for $10 million.

Ben Wallace insists he wasn't sending any personal message to Andrew Bogut, the Bucks rookie center who was the No. 1 pick in the draft last June.

"I am always sending a message," Wallace said. "No. 1 overall pick, No. 10 overall pick, cagey veterans, it don't matter."

Whether it was an intended message from Wallace or not, Bogut got a hint what life will be like in the Central Division on Thursday.

And it wasn't pretty.

Wallace manhandled him. Bogut managed to get up just four shots in 21 minutes, missing all four. He did manage three free throws and six rebounds.

Wallace, undrafted out of Virginia Union, blocked four shots, pulled down 13 rebounds, had a steal and eight points as the Pistons won their second straight exhibition game, 95-88, at The Palace.

"I saw they were trying to go at Ben a couple of times and I was like, 'Wow, good luck,'"said Chauncey Billups, who led the Pistons with 16 points. "We definitely wanted to let them know that when you come into this building and play against the red, white and blue, it's going to be a long night."

Pistons forward Darko Milicic was arrested in suburban Detroit and charged with driving with a suspended license.

The 7-footer from Serbia-Montenegro posted $100 bond and was released, police said. A court date will be set in the next few weeks.

Milicic, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft, was pulled over Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of having illegally tinted windows, Sterling Heights Police Lt. Michael Reese said. A routine check of his driving record showed his license had been suspended for two unpaid traffic tickets in another city.

When will Tayshaun Prince sign an extension? Friday at the earliest.

That's when his agent, Bill Duffy, will be in town to meet with team president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. If all goes well, Prince will walk out with a contract for five years and somewhere near $50 million.

Back-up point guard Lindsey Hunter underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle Wednesday morning to clear out loose particles.

Hunter, who has yet to practice in the 2005 training camp, will be reevaluated in a week, but there is no timetable for his return. Dr. Arthur Manoli from St. Joseph Mercy Medical Center in Pontiac performed the surgery.

It's time for Lindsey Hunter to pay up.

All through the playoffs last season, he played on a badly sprained left ankle, buying time with an assortment of tapings, therapies and treatments.

So today, Hunter begins restitution. He will have arthroscopic surgery on the ankle, performed by Dr. Arthur Manoli at St. Joseph's Hospital in Pontiac, and miss most, if not all, of training camp.

"It's just basically to get in there and clean it up," said Arnie Kander, the Pistons' physical therapist. "It's possible he can get back before the end of training camp. But, with Lindsey, considering his style of play, we're not going to rush it. We will take our time and make sure it's 110 percent ready."

The injury to Hunter opens the door wide for fifth-year point guard Carlos Arroyo to win a spot in coach Flip Saunders' rotation.

"No question this is a good opportunity for (Carlos)," Saunders said after putting the Pistons through a lively two-hour practice Tuesday morning. "He's coming into a situation where he's starting from square one, not having to play catch-up in the system. That's going to help him."