The Detroit Pistons are already getting right to work when it comes to preparing for the 2026-27 campaign
With the team’s official training camp still over a month away, several members of the Detroit Pistons are getting an early jump on the season by taking part in a player-organized string of workouts in The Golden State so that they can mesh ahead of time.
According to ESPN NBA reporter Dave McMenamin, the Pistons’ offseason workout series is currently led by Cade Cunningham, which makes sense after the All-NBA point guard stepped up for a summer workout with Ausar and Amen Thompson, Taurean Prince, Tre Donaldson and Cam Boozer recently with that open run serving as a precursor for these Pistons-centric activities.
As the team’s leader, the fact that Cunningham is taking the initiative to set up these workouts comes as little surprise after his track record of a similar business-first mentality during previous offseasons. Last summer, Cunningham met up with big man Jalen Duren for some specialized two-man work while also visiting Rome, Italy, and the dynamic duo met up the summer before that to sharpen their skill sets while also camping in the backwoods of Colorado.
This time around, it is unclear if Duren is slated to attend the impromptu Pistons workouts in Southern California given the ongoing status of his contract negotiation with the Detroit organization. Over the past couple months, the Pistons nor Duren have been able to agree on a suitable long-term contract for the restricted free agent, so they’re still at a relative stalemate in terms of getting a deal done.
Over the past week, Duren has been quite busy himself by hosting Jalen Duren Day back at his hometown outside of Philadelphia, and the 22-year old All-Star also put together an offseason workout camp for hoopers in Michigan a few days before that, so JD has had a full itinerary lately.
But from a team-wide perspective, Cunningham’s plan to bring the entire group together is obviously conducive to building chemistry before the start of another long regular season, but it’s twice as important considering how much roster turnover there was from last year to the 2026-27 campaign. Without Tobias Harris in the locker room to set the tone or Isaiah Stewart to help keep the energy high during hard-working moments, the Pistons need to find new voices to lean on before embarking on another 82-game journey together. Even though Caris LeVert and Marcus Sasser were a bit further down the pecking order, they were still a pair of veterans who conducted themselves like professionals last year with clear roles that the Pistons need to replace.
So, Cunningham gathered the troops in SoCal so that new arrivals such as John Collins, Isaiah Joe, Taurean Prince and Gary Harris could jump into the swing of a Pistons-style practice and build some rhythm before the team’s training camp officially begins with J.B. Bickerstaff running the show soon enough.
Last season, the Pistons relied on their toughness and defensive intensity en route to a 60-win regular season before faltering in the playoffs, but Detroit is looking to correct their roster imbalance with more three-point shooting and a younger squad in hopes of making a longer run in the postseason this time around.
