The Detroit Pistons now have three pre-season games on their 2026-27 schedule so far
With the full NBA regular season schedule set for release tomorrow, fans across the league are finding out more about when and where to catch their teams throughout the 2026-27 season, and more information along those lines is slowly trickling out regarding the Detroit Pistons.
As part of the league’s big announcement yesterday, the Pistons are going to tip-off the NBA regular season with a 3 pm matchup against the Boston Celtics at home. Detroit did not receive a Christmas Day game this season, but the Pistons still received a bit of marquee placement given their regular season opener.
But before reaching that point, the Pistons still have an entire training camp and pre-season slate to progress through. So far, the Pistons haven’t officially released their pre-season schedule yet, but other teams have and it’s allowed for the opportunity to piecemeal together a schedule in the meantime.
PistonsRoundtable previously wrote about Detroit’s pre-season contests against the Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns, which very well could bookend the exhibition format. The Pistons are set to host the Suns on Monday, Oct. 5 at 7 pm for a potential pre-season opener, then the Raptors matchup will arrive on Friday, Oct. 16 in what could possibly be the team’s pre-season finale as well.
Between those two games, the Pistons also have a pre-season tilt against the Washington Wizards tabbed for Saturday, Oct. 10 at 7 pm on the road, the only exhibition encounter away from Detroit based on the information that’s available. With that Wizards game in the mix, the Pistons have three pre-season games on the docket so far, but that number is expected to grow to four with a top-out zone at five games for the pre-season.
Last year, Detroit had a .500 record at 2-2 during the 2025-26 pre-season, so it would not be a surprise to see four exhibition games on the slate this time around. The Raptors, however, have five games before jumping into the regular season, whereas the Suns and Wizards each have four.
During that general timeframe, the Pistons are hoping to try out different lineups and to make important evaluations about all the roster turnover that took place in the Motor City during the offseason. Since Detroit last took the court, the Pistons have parted ways with Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart, Caris LeVert and Marcus Sasser during the summer but replenished their rotation with the additions of Isaiah Joe, John Collins, Taurean Prince, Gary Harris, Ebuka Okorie, Ugonna Onyenso and Elijah Harkless. So, the Pistons will need some time to build chemistry and continuity together on the floor, so the pre-season could be an instrumental piece of that process for a flurry of established players who will be looking for their footing in a new system.
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