The Detroit Pistons have several important decisions to make this offseason that will impact their ceiling moving forward
Before the 2025-26 campaign kicked off, the Detroit Pistons were widely predicted to wind up in the playoffs, but it would be a far cry to assert that the Motown squad was expected to seize the top seed in the conference– and certainly not so early during the season. But from November onward, the Pistons occupied the top spot in the Eastern Conference en route to a 60-win regular season, but the Central Division team ultimately ran out of gas in the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In that series, the second consecutive seven-game battle for Detroit, the dynamic duo of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren were unable to work through the Cavs’ compact, paint-oriented defensive structure. The Orlando Magic first tried that strategy during round one, then the Cavs took it a step further and disrupted the Pistons’ offense enough to bounce Detroit out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Upon review, the Pistons took many strides in a positive direction last season, and the team can hang their hat on finally winning a playoff series. But during the offseason, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon is going to work on rebuilding the squad so that the team can respond with more perimeter threats at their disposal during the postseason. Duncan Robinson was able to connect on three-point shots at a 41% rate during the regular season, but he was far and away the most competent perimeter threat on a Detroit unit that ranked just No. 17 in the NBA in terms of three-point percentage before the playoffs began.
So, the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft will offer Langdon an opportunity right off the bat to add a player with perimeter gravity to a team that is already built on the pillars of hard-nosed defense with a young three-man core (Cunningham, Duren and Ausar Thompson) who are laser-focused on taking the Pistons to the next level. So far, the Pistons have already hosted sharp-shooting guards like Isaiah Evans and Cameron Carr for pre-draft workouts, which means Langdon is already surveying which players could be available in the mid-to-late first round range.
During his two year college career, Evans hit three-pointers at a 38% rate at Duke, which would immediately rank the 6-6 guard as one of Detroit’s better long-range marksmen if the Pistons were to call his name on June 23. Evans offers more than just three-point range given his ability to break a defender down off the dribble and score from all three levels, so the Pistons would be adding a dynamic guard at the point of attack if the Duke sophomore is available on draft day.
Now, the Pistons very well could choose to look in the direction of a big man in the first round since Tobias Harris is entering unrestricted free agency. Even if Detroit reaches an agreement with the veteran for another go-around, the Pistons must identify his successor eventually, so that would make sense as another potential avenue for the organization to take with the 21st overall pick.
One week later, free agency opens across the league, and the Pistons are expected to be active participants in that stage of the offseason as well. As stated, Harris will be a free agent alongside Kevin Huerter, but the team will primarily work on bringing Duren back through restricted free agency. These decisions will give the Pistons a bit of flexibility considering their cap space, but the team also has a handful of productive, valuable role player veterans that could become assets on the trade market.
In that respect, the Pistons own all of their first round choices for the next five seasons along with three second-rounders in 2027 and four second-rounders the year after, so it would not be a surprise to see Detroit take a swing at an established secondary scorer with three-point range on the trade market. The Pistons are stocked with draft picks and optionality with the cap and their roster to work with while their core is still young, so Langdon has all the tools required to build a roster capable of a deeper playoff run next season.
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