The Detroit Pistons recently avoided one organizational change while making a slight personnel switch before training camp begins
During the summer, the 15-man Detroit Pistons roster is not the only aspect of the team that had the potential for fluidity during the offseason. After unsuccessfully coaching the squad earlier in his career, Dwane Casey has recently served as an advisor for the Pistons, and his name was brought up as a head coaching candidate for new Serie A expansion team BC Roma SPQR.
As an organization preparing for its initial campaign in the Italian league, the team made it a point to have as many NBA figures involved as possible so that there would be a sense of experience and leadership in the building from the very start. With Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers and former Dallas Mavericks General Manager Donnie Nelson co-founding the squad, Roma explored the possibility of bringing in Pistons advisor Dwane Casey to establish some stability for their debut season in Serie A.
But according to NBA Correspondent Marc Stein, Casey has officially withdrawn his name from consideration for the job opening, and he will be returning to his post in Detroit for the coming season.
So far, Casey has helped the Pistons turn around the franchise from the front office, and he’ll continue to aim for further progression during the 2026-27 campaign, particularly as it pertains to the postseason. Just over two months ago, the Pistons were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but Detroit restocked their roster with new role players who will be expected to contribute mightily while also making a stylistic change to one of their fringe-NBA holdovers.
After spending last season bouncing between the Pistons and the G-League’s Motor City Cruise, big man Isaac Jones is transitioning to the power forward spot after beginning his professional career at the five as a center. During Summer League, Jones dipped his toes into that water by logging the majority of his minutes at the four while rookie Ugonna Onyenso played down low, so it has been a gradual process up to this point for the pre-season position change.
Before wrapping up the exhibition slate in Las Vegas, Jones posted an 18-point, 10-rebound effort against the Phoenix Suns on July 15, so it did not take long for the former Sacramento Kings big man to experience success in his new role. However, the Pistons ultimately ended up with a 1-4 record during that timespan, so there is still work to do before the regular season begins over two months from now.
In the meantime, the Pistons will continue to work on a deal for 22-year old All-Star center Jalen Duren, who is currently a restricted free agent. At this point, Duren is the biggest name left on the market, but there simply are not many teams who have the cap space available to sign JD to a long-term deal, which shifts the negotiation into Detroit’s favor. But with that caveat still existing, Duren is considering the possibility of taking his qualifying offer so that he can become an unrestricted free next summer, but that is a situation that the Detroit organization would like to avoid if possible.
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