Detroit is still 0-0 in regular-season terms, but the preseason log now shows three wins against one loss, and the two players who had sat out with rest tags are both back on the floor and producing.
Read the full story5 more paragraphs
Jalen Duren was cleared from day-to-day status on October 14, ending the rest listing that had followed him since October 5. He scored 12 points in Detroit's 128-106 win at the Timberwolves that same day, then followed with 14 points in a 129-125 win over the Raptors on October 16. The contract question behind those day-to-day notes is still not closed on paper: no signed deal has been reported since the October 1 report of a five-year agreement and Duren's October 4 comment that he wants to be a "Piston for life." He is playing through it, but the signing itself remains open.
Cade Cunningham, listed day-to-day for rest on October 10, was also cleared on October 14. He played in both games since, scoring 7 points against the Timberwolves and 18 points against the Raptors. That closes the fresh injury-log entry from earlier in the week without it turning into anything bigger.
The preseason record now stands at three wins and one loss: the October 5 win over the Suns (Holland 14, Collins 10), the October 10 loss at the Wizards (Okorie 14, Robinson 12), the October 14 win at the Timberwolves (Duren 12, Cunningham 7), and the October 16 win over the Raptors (Cunningham 18, Duren 14). None of it counts toward the regular-season record, but Detroit has played four games and won three.
Ausar Thompson's five-year extension, agreed September 18, is still the only contract fully closed this offseason — nothing new has surfaced on it since the September 23 roundup, even though his name kept appearing in notes roundups, including one on October 13. A separate note on October 17 reported that Detroit, along with Cleveland and Denver, waived Exhibit 10 players as rosters get trimmed; no Pistons player was named. The active roster otherwise holds steady, with Brice Williams and John Ukomadu in and Gary Harris and Bryson Warren out.
Detroit's two-game week that began October 14 at the Timberwolves closed out 2-0 with the October 16 win over the Raptors.
Open storylines
as of Sun, Oct 18Duren was cleared from day-to-day October 14 and scored in both wins since, but no signed contract has been reported since the October 1 five-year deal report.
Detroit beat the Timberwolves 128-106 on October 14 and the Raptors 129-125 on October 16, building on the earlier split against the Suns and Wizards.
Cunningham was cleared October 14 and has played both games since, scoring 7 and then 18 points.
No new detail has surfaced on Ausar Thompson's September 18 extension since September 23, despite repeated mentions in notes roundups.
An October 17 report said Detroit, Cleveland and Denver waived Exhibit 10 players, without naming which Pistons player was cut.
The projection
all 30 teams →The season depends most on Cade Cunningham (8.1 wins without him), Jalen Duren (7.8 wins without him), Duncan Robinson (7.3 wins without him), Ausar Thompson (7.1 wins without him) and Isaiah Joe (0.6 wins without him): on/off from 2025-26, details under Injuries. Computed Sat, Oct 24; the method is on the methods page.
The race
Eastern Conference · 80 games leftNext 5: at 76ers100%at Knicks0%vs Hornets50%at Nets0%at Hornets50%opponents win 40% of their games on average
Standings and games back are from the official table; the pace is the current record carried over 82 games, nothing more.
Day by day
34 days on the recordEarlier on the record30 more days · back to Mon, Sep 7
The franchise
Every season since the start →Public record →Nowupdated 2026-10-12
J.B. Bickerstaff enters his third season as head coach. The core was built through the draft and a trade: Detroit took Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick in 2021, and added Jalen Duren via a draft-day trade with the Knicks in 2022. Cunningham, now 25, put up 23.9 points and 9.9 assists a game last season; Duren, 22, posted 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. Around them sit Ausar Thompson, John Collins, Duncan Robinson, Taurean Prince, Kevin Huerter and Isaiah Joe. Last season Detroit went 60-22, the third-best record in franchise history and its first 60-win season since 2005-06, with a defense that ranked 2nd in the league and an offense that ranked 9th, for a net rating of 8.4, second-best in the NBA. The payroll sits at $193.3 million across 16 contracts, over the cap but under the tax, with Cunningham's $50.1 million and Duren's $40.2 million the two biggest numbers on the books. Detroit owns its own first-round picks through 2030 and holds a 2029 second-round swap, owing only a protected 2028 second-rounder to Philadelphia. The summer's headline move already closed: Ausar Thompson agreed to a five-year extension on September 18. Late in camp, Brice Williams and John Ukomadu joined the roster while Gary Harris and Bryson Warren left.
Identity and rivalries156 words
Detroit calls itself a Bad Boys town, a nickname born in 1987-88 when Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis sent Raiders gear to the Pistons because the two teams shared a rough, physical style. Joe Dumars said you can't be great in this league with zero identity, and that don't-back-down approach is still how this team plays: physical and defense-first. Michael Jordan hated them for it and still does; announcer George Blaha calls it the mentality of a working person's town. The rivalries carrying that attitude forward now are current ones. The Knicks ended Detroit's season in six games in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. A year later, Detroit won the Central Division for the first time since 2008 and claimed the East's No. 1 seed for the first time since 2007, only for Cleveland to eliminate them anyway in seven games in the conference semifinals. Both series are scores this roster is still carrying.
Home, owners and numbers127 words
Detroit plays at Little Caesars Arena, home since 2017, when the Pistons ended a 39-year stay in suburban Oakland County and moved back downtown; Detroit City Council approved the move in June 2017, and the NBA Board of Governors signed off that August. Tom Gores has owned the franchise since 2011, when he bought it from Karen Davidson for $325 million in a sale approved by the NBA Board of Governors. The rafters carry names tied to the franchise's Hall of Fame class, including Bellamy, Chuck Daly and Lloyd, with Lloyd honored as the first African American player and bench coach in NBA history, plus banners that honor a former owner's stewardship of the franchise and a general manager who spent 13 years running the front office.
What they are chasing119 words
Detroit's most concrete question right now is Jalen Duren. A five-year deal is reportedly in place, and on October 4 Duren said, "I want to be a Detroit Piston for life," but as of now nothing is signed. Locking him up for the long term will matter for the salary books: any new deal has to fit beneath a luxury-tax line of $200.4 million and two aprons above that, at $209.0 million and $221.7 million. Fans are arguing about two things right now: whether Duren's deal actually gets finished on the terms reported, and how much room is left to add anyone else once it does, with the roster already carrying 20 players at an average age of 25.8.
The long view528 words
Founded in 1937 as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, the team began as a semi-professional company squad sponsored by Fred Zollner, owner of the Zollner Corporation, a foundry that made pistons for engines in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The club turned pro in 1941, joined the National Basketball League, and won NBL titles in 1944 and 1945, along with World Professional Basketball Tournament crowns in 1944, 1945 and 1946. In 1948 they entered the Basketball Association of America as the Fort Wayne Pistons, and in 1949 the NBL and BAA merged to form the NBA, with Zollner helping broker the deal. Fort Wayne reached the 1955 NBA Finals, losing a controversial Game 7 to the Syracuse Nationals, then lost the 1956 Finals to the Philadelphia Warriors in five games. In 1957 Zollner moved the team to Detroit, keeping the Pistons name for its tie to the auto industry; George Yardley became the first player to score 2,000 points in a season that year.
The Detroit years opened rough. Talented players such as Yardley, Bailey Howell, Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing and Bob Lanier were repeatedly traded away — DeBusschere went to the Knicks for Howard Komives and Walt Bellamy and won two titles there, Howell went to Baltimore then won two championships with Boston. In 1974 Zollner sold the team to Bill Davidson, who owned it until his death in 2009. After playoff runs from 1974 to 1977 and a short stint under coach Dick Vitale, the team collapsed to 16–66 in 1979–80, closing with a 14-game losing streak that stretched to 21 straight with seven more losses to start 1980–81. In 1978 the club had relocated to the Silverdome in Pontiac.
The turnaround began with the 1981 draft of Isiah Thomas, followed by the additions of Vinnie Johnson, Bill Laimbeer, Chuck Daly as coach, Joe Dumars (drafted 18th in 1985), Rick Mahorn, John Salley, Dennis Rodman and Adrian Dantley. This group, nicknamed the "Bad Boys" for its physical defense, lost a bitter seven-game 1987 Eastern Conference Finals to Boston after Larry Bird's steal from Isiah Thomas's inbound pass. In 1988 Detroit won a franchise-record 54 games and reached the Finals against the Lakers, losing Game 6 103–102 on free throws by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after a foul on Laimbeer, then Game 7, 108–105.
Detroit broke through in 1989, sweeping the Lakers for its first championship with Dumars as Finals MVP, having moved into the privately financed Palace of Auburn Hills. They repeated in 1990, beating the Bulls in a Game 7 and the Portland Trail Blazers, with Vinnie Johnson's late jumper earning him the nickname "007." Isiah Thomas won that Finals MVP. The Bulls swept Detroit out of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, and the Pistons walked off without shaking hands.
The roster broke apart through the 1990s — Laimbeer retired in 1993, Thomas in 1994, and Detroit bottomed out at 20–62. The 1994 draft brought Grant Hill, but coaching turned over repeatedly under Ron Rothstein, Don Chaney, Doug Collins, Alvin Gentry and George Irvine. A third championship followed in 2004. Today the Pistons play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference at Little Caesars Arena in Midtown Detroit.