Detroit Pistons: Ebuka Okorie Boosts Point Guard Depth In Motown

At the beginning of last season, the Detroit Pistons found themselves with Cade Cunningham shouldering a large portion of the load at point guard given a lingering injury to Marcus Sasser, and the fifth-year floor general continued to post one of the top usage rates in the NBA. 

While Cunningham logged his most productive season yet with 23.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 9.9 assists per game during the 2025-26 campaign, Sasser’s injury situation forced Detroit to find a suitable back-up early on. Fortunately for the squad, Daniss Jenkins emerged after a successful stint in the G-League with the Motor City Cruise, and the second-year ball handler made the most of his opportunity. 

Jenkins hit some clutch shots for the Pistons in the first half of the season, and it quickly became clear that he could serve as a reliable understudy to Cunningham. Before long, Jenkins was awarded with a standard NBA-level contract as a promotion from his two-way deal, and it was actually the richest conversion agreement in league history. 

Once the playoffs arrived with the Pistons as the one seed, Sasser contributed marginally to the tune of 4.5 points per game in just over 10 minutes a night while shooting 35.7% from downtown. Jenkins had long usurped Sasser in the lineup by that point, so the Pistons made the move to trade Sasser to the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason to gain a little bit of financial flexibility before completing their negotiations with Jalen Duren. 

During the 2026 NBA Draft, the Pistons also made a deal to land former Stanford point guard Ebuka Okorie after heavily scouting the prospect during the pre-draft process, so it was clear that Detroit made it a priority to stabilize their primary play-creation position. So far, the early returns are positive after Okorie averaged just under 20 points per game during the Summer League, and the one-time Cardinal looks every bit the self-creation standout that he was billed as leading into the draft. 

While out in Las Vegas, Okorie received credit from Pistons Summer League head coach Steve Scalzi for his ability to slither into the paint at will, also noting how the rookie realized early on that paint touches led to positive outcomes for Detroit. Although the Pistons were 1-4 in the exhibition series, Okorie had an opportunity to adjust to the physicality of professional hoops before his workload is set to increase so substantially at the NBA level in the Motor City.

From a wider perspective, Okorie is likely to battle it out with Daniss Jenkins during training camp for the back-up point guard role after his strong Summer League start, but give a tangible advantage to DJ as the incumbent with familiarity in J.B. Bickerstaff’s system. Okorie has no shortage of exciting offensive qualities considering he led the ACC in scoring as a freshman last season, but Jenkins has key experience during Detroit’s run last season, though both players will work to raise the floor of the Pistons’ point guard position overall.