The upcoming week features one quality test after the next for the Detroit Pistons with teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers on the docket, but their mid-season gauntlet begins in the Motor City when Victor Wembanyama comes to town later tonight for a 7 pm tip-off. 

The Pistons enter the Spurs game with no shortage of momentum after pummeling both the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls right after the All-Star Break, and Detroit’s All-Star center, Jalen Duren, announced his powerful return to the lineup over the weekend with 26 points and 13 rebounds against the Chicago Bulls. 

Despite those positive barometers, the Pistons will still be forced to play without Isaiah Stewart since the defensive ace is still serving the rest of his suspension for mixing it up with the Charlotte Hornets before the All-Star Break. Look for Paul Reed to fill in for Beef Stew when called upon tonight against the Spurs, especially if Duren finds himself in foul trouble at any point in time. 

Along those lines, the Spurs present a team that excels in several areas that the Pistons have also prioritized over the course of the regular season. Like Detroit, the Spurs rebound the basketball at a high level and tend to dominate the points in the paint battle on a regular basis when the rest of the league is more concerned with finding open looks from the perimeter. As a result, the Spurs have leaned into their ability to produce low-risk shots, which makes sense given the 7-6 athletic monster on their roster in Wembanyama. 

Respectfully speaking, Wembanyama is unlike any player the Pistons have faced this season. Of course, Cunningham and Duren had an opportunity to go up against Wembanyama during the All-Star Game, but tonight’s matchup will be a significant test for JD and the Pistons’ ability to clean the glass overall. 

On a parallel thought process, the Spurs are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA through 50-plus games, and San Antonio presents a bevy of difficult matchups that ultimately flow through Wembanyama’s ability to eliminate air space near the rim while also switching onto smaller players at other times. Detroit’s ability to attack this specific puzzle will be a key aspect of the game, and it’s worth noting that the Pistons face the Spurs next week as well if their initial approach requires any adjustments. 

At 40-16 this season, the Spurs are on an eight-game winning streak with quality victories over the Thunder and Phoenix Suns during that timespan, so the Spurs are looking to build on the success they’ve had recently. From San Antonio’s perspective, the four-man core of Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and De’Aaron Fox has clicked over the last two weeks, and the Spurs have played like one of the most dangerous teams in the Western Conference as of late with the corresponding metrics to reinforce such a claim. 

From Detroit’s side of the matchup, the Pistons have a relatively clean bill of health to report. Several players will be unavailable for tonight’s game, such as Stewart, but not due to health reasons. Bobi Klintman, Isaac Jones and Wendell Moore Jr. all carry a two-way designation for tonight’s game, while Chaz Lanier is available if need be. 

The Spurs will be without a trio of players tonight due to G-League obligations as well (Harrison Ingram, Davis Jones Garcia and Stanley Umude), while Mason Plumlee (conditioning) is not expected to play tonight either. Outside of those situations, the Spurs’ 10-man rotation appears intact for an important cross-conference clash. 

After a huge 42-point outing in New York a couple games ago, Cade Cunningham thrust himself into the national MVP conversation in one fail swoop, but his effort was less revolutionary to those that know him best and more indicative of how talented a scorer Cunningham can be when prioritizing his own shot. During a recent sitdown with the Road Trippin Show, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke about how he’s been impressed by his All-Star point guard this season. 

“He’s highly intelligent and his ability to pick up things on the fly,” Bickerstaff began. “That’s what I marvel at sometimes is I watch him in-game make adjustments so quickly based on how the game is being played that defenses just don’t have time to keep up and they can’t keep making adjustment after adjustment because they don’t have an answer for it.”

Cunningham’s ability to process the game at a high level is unique to the NBA’s top flight, and that’s what the Detroit floor general has proven himself to be this season. 

It should come as no surprise that Victor Wembanyama holds the keys to the Spurs’ success in tonight’s game, and he should receive the lion’s share of Detroit’s defensive attention at home tonight. The difficult part for Detroit is that San Antonio utilizes Wemby all over the floor in the half-court, so he’s just as likely to pull up from long-range as he is to drive to the hoop, using his unparalleled reach to shield the ball the entire way. 

This season, Wembanyama has increased his three-point shooting clip to 35.7%, so the French center is truly a threat from all over the court. No one else in the NBA can hoist up shots from the angles that Wembanyama can, and the Spurs have learned how and when to utilize his skill set most effectively over the past half dozen games. 

If Duren is able to attack Wemby on offense early and potentially force the Spurs’ center into foul trouble, the Pistons could have an easier path to victory against San Antonio tonight, but expect a more competitive game for Detroit than their weekend win over the Bulls served to be. 

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