The Detroit Pistons reshuffled their frontcourt depth chart this summer during a very active offseason
During the offseason, the Detroit Pistons have made changes to all three levels of their team with moves occurring in the backcourt, frontcourt and on the wing during the summer. To kickstart the transaction period, the Pistons made a trade to land point guard Ebuka Okorie at No. 17 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft and later would execute another deal to bring in former Virginia center Ugonna Onyenso at the end of round two as well.
For the latter draftee, the Pistons partly made the decision to target Onyenso because the organization agreed to trade away Isaiah Stewart to the Memphis Grizzlies earlier in the draft, and Onyenso served as one of the most effective shot blockers in the nation last season. With 2.9 blocks per game to his credit, Onyenso aggressively patrolled the paint for Virginia a year ago, and the 7-footer’s rim protection should mesh well with the Pistons’ focus on stopping the ball.
But since Onyenso was a second-rounder who signed a two-way deal after the draft, the big man is not expected to log an overwhelming amount of minutes right away. First, he’ll have to contend with Tolu Smith for the third-string center job, but that also means that Paul Reed will be bumped up to the back-up spot without Stewart in town, so he’ll actually be absorbing most of the vacant defensive responsibility.
In terms of that depth chart change, Reed has already generated a healthy amount of fanfare during his time in the Motor City thanks to his ability to rapidly impact a basketball game in short spurts of playing time. Minute-for-minute, B-Ball Paul ranks as one of the better play-making big men in the NBA, and that goes for both sides of the floor.
According to BBall Index, Reed actually usurps San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama for the top spot on the defensive playmaking scale among centers across the league with a 6.6 rating. Now, the formula to produce a defensive playmaking rating is actually relatively straightforward, so it’s not too difficult to see how Reed graded out better than the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. To find a player’s defensive playmaking rate, their steals per 75 minutes, deflections per 75, blocks per 75 and offensive fouls drawn per 75 are all taken into account, and that number is what put Reed slightly on top of Wembanyama.
At 6-9 and 210 pounds, Reed is a bit undersized when it comes to matching up with most centers across the league, but that hasn’t stopped B-Ball Paul from using his leverage in advantageous ways defensively. Stewart wasn’t the tallest five in the building while playing for the Pistons either, so on the surface that doesn’t appear to be a major hindrance for Detroit moving forward.
Part of what made Stewart such an intimidating big man to find in the paint is attached to his reputation as a fearless rim protector. Beef Stew was always ready for a meeting at the bucket, so a lot of the Pistons’ reputation as a defensively strong team stems from Stewart’s approach to the paint. So, Reed will work to re-establish the low block as a no-fly zone in Detroit once again during the 2026-27 campaign.
