Pistons Nightly

The Pistons went 60-22 last season. The numbers behind that record were strong on both ends. Detroit posted a 117.3 offensive rating and a 108.9 defensive rating, for a net rating of 8.4. The team scored 117.8 points per game at a pace of 99.9. Its effective field goal percentage was 54.6, and its true shooting percentage was 58.3. Cade Cunningham drove the offense. He averaged 23.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 9.9 assists in 64 games last season, with a plus-minus of 8.1. Jalen Duren was the second scorer and the anchor inside, with 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in 70 games. Both are back. For 2026-27, the question is how much of the supporting cast around them carries over.

Four players from last season's roster are gone. Tobias Harris is with the Spurs. Isaiah Stewart is with the Grizzlies. Caris LeVert is with the Bucks. Marcus Sasser is with the Mavericks. Harris leaves the biggest hole in the lineup numbers. Last season's most-used five-man group was Harris, Duncan Robinson, Cunningham, Duren and Ausar Thompson. It played 536.0 minutes over 42 games with a net rating of 11.4. Another Harris group, with Daniss Jenkins in place of Cunningham, posted a 28.8 net rating in 184.0 minutes. Stewart's lineups were mixed. One five with him, Harris, Robinson, Cunningham and Thompson finished at -16.3 in 74.0 minutes. Robinson, Cunningham, Duren and Thompson all return, so four-fifths of the top unit is intact. The fifth spot is open.

John Collins is the clearest frontcourt option. Last season he averaged 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds and shot 40.6% from three. Robinson shot 41.0% from three in 77 games. Isaiah Joe hit 42.3% and scored 11.1 points in 21.2 minutes. Kevin Huerter averaged 10.0 points but shot 30.8% from deep. Jenkins gave the second unit 9.3 points and 3.9 assists over 72 games. Thompson averaged 9.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists, with a plus-minus of 5.4. Paul Reed is back at forward. A lineup of Reed, Harris, Robinson, Cunningham and Thompson posted a 26.4 net rating in 75.0 minutes last season. Ronald Holland II, 21, is in his second season. The roster also carries two rookies: guard Ebuka Okorie, 19, and center Ugonna Onyenso, 22.

Taurean Prince is the only name on the injury report. He is day-to-day for personal reasons, with an estimated return of Oct. 23, the date of the opener at Miami. Prince played 26 games last season. He averaged 9.2 points in 23.5 minutes and shot 43.6% from three, the best mark among the returning rotation players. In the front office, the Pistons exercised their 2027-28 option on Holland, as reported by Keith Smith on Oct. 20. Detroit was also reported among the teams that waived Exhibit 10 players on Oct. 17. Depth was the Pistons' theme in a Central Division roundup on Oct. 19. A round of Pistons notes on Oct. 21 touched on Javonte Green, Duren, Thompson and Holland.

The opening stretch is road-heavy. After Miami on Oct. 23, Detroit visits Philadelphia on Oct. 25 and New York on Oct. 27, a game on NBC and Peacock. The first home game is Oct. 28 against Charlotte, the second night of a back-to-back. Then the Pistons visit Brooklyn on Oct. 30 for an Emirates NBA Cup game. That is four road games in the first five. It is an early test for a rotation that has to replace the minutes Harris and Stewart played. Cunningham and Duren are the constants. The shooting of Robinson, Joe and Collins is the variable to watch as the rest of the rotation settles in.