Detroit Pistons Center Depth Chart: Projecting The 5-Spot Rotation

Early in the offseason, the Detroit Pistons made the difficult choice to pivot away from two aging veteran big men by trading Isaiah Stewart to the Memphis Grizzlies and letting Tobias Harris walk in free agency. While the latter move was slightly telegraphed given Harris’ age at 35-years old, Stewart was a defensive anchor in the Motor City and stood as the longest-tenured Piston before his trade, but they both left big shoes to fill. 

Now headed into the 2026-27 regular season, John Collins has seamlessly occupied the four spot in Motown with a rather sensational four-game stint in the preseason. As advertised, Collins has an outside shot while also offering considerable leaping ability above the cylinder, so there’s an entire rolodex of new offensive sets that will be at Cade Cunningham’s disposal this year. 

But reverting back to the center position, the Pistons have a luxury that few other teams can relate to given their in-house depth in the frontcourt. It’s never easy to lose a player with the defensive credentials of Beef Stew, but the Pistons already had a hungry Paul Reed waiting to walk into more playing time after his positive efforts during the postseason when Jalen Duren went missing in action. So, transitioning from Stewart to Reed was a logical move to make, especially once Beef Stew’s playoff injury track record was taken into consideration. 

So far, Duren has looked terrific in his two preseason performances after signing his new five-year deal, but the Pistons are relatively loaded at the five. Moving past both JD and Reed on the depth chart, Tolu Smith looks ready to handle expanded minutes at the five thanks to his rebounding chops, strength and overall interior presence. Smith was a nightly double-double machine last year with the Motor City Cruise in the G-League, but he’ll be a mainstay and a fixture with the Pistons moving forward. 

After that, Detroit has a couple decisions to make. Isaac Jones discussed his offseason position change from power forward to center, and he looked both dynamic and imposing at the five during Summer League play. Jones has NBA experience already, so he’s an option at center if the Pistons run into injury trouble for whatever reason. 

Rounding out the position, Detroit is also working to develop Ugonna Onyenso after snagging the 7-foot center in the second-round of the draft out of Virginia. Onyenso was a shot-blocking phenom and ranked as one of the NCAA’s top rim protectors a year ago who also had an encouraging Summer League run, but he found it difficult to come across minutes in the preseason. Since Onyenso is on a two-way deal, he looks like a popular candidate to hone his skills with the Cruise while working his way to the NBA level down the line.