Last week, the Detroit Pistons’ G-League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, lost one of their key rotational pieces indefinitely– to the college basketball world. 

In a shocking dose of news, Motor City Cruise center Charles Bediako was granted a temporary restraining order from his professional basketball duties in order to return to his former college basketball squad, the Alabama Crimson Tide, right in the middle of SEC play. As a result, Bediako actually featured prominently in Alabama’s 79-73 loss to Tennessee on Saturday, Jan. 24 in the 6-11 big man’s first collegiate game in nearly three years.

Bediako was slated to have his case reviewed yesterday, but Mother Nature played a role in the postponement of his hearing. So, Bediako will remain eligible to continue playing for the Crimson Tide moving forward in a blatant affront to the NCAA’s rules. 

ESPN offered a bit of clarification on the puzzling situation: 

“Bediako was granted a 10-day temporary restraining order last week that allowed him to play immediately for Alabama and that barred the NCAA from punishing the university in any way, with a full hearing scheduled for Tuesday,” Jeff Borzello wrote.

“But the parties held a virtual status conference Monday because Taylor Askew, one of the NCAA's attorneys, was unable to attend Tuesday's hearing because of weather issues.”

In his walk down memory lane against the Volunteers, Bediako looked like an improved player– a whole new man– after playing in the G-League for the last three seasons. With the Bama jersey draped across his chest, Bediako came off the bench but was given starter’s minutes en route to 13 points, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals in his collegiate return. 

A man amongst boys, Bediako’s production and work in the low post was not enough to lift Alabama over their conference rivals, so the former-turned-return college athlete will have another shot at victory later tonight when the Crimson Tide host Missouri at home at 8 pm. 

From a Detroit perspective, Bediako has been a part-time contributor for the Cruise throughout the 2025-26 regular season, averaging just 5.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in just under 15 minutes per game after the Pistons signed him in September. The Cruise are particularly deep at the four and five positions this year, and it looks like Bediako was usurped on the depth chart since he’s averaging the lowest per-game totals of his G-League career. 

This season, the Motor City Cruise have a 7-8 record on the year and are positioned at No. 10 in the Eastern Conference, just outside of the playoff positions. As is the case with every squad in the G-League, the Cruise have experienced a lot of turnover with players moving up and down between Pistons games and Cruise contests. Despite that, Cruise guard Jaden Akins has had one of the breakout rookie performances in the league and Tolu Smith has shown that he might be ready for game-time with the Pistons as early as next season. 

Continue to check back in with Pistons Roundtable as we continue to cover this peculiar, developing situation. 

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