The Detroit Pistons have an influx of new players after a busy offseason, and there will be multiple important position battles to follow through pre-season and the start of the regular season
Although the regular season is still over two months away for the Detroit Pistons, the Motown squad will begin training camp in just over a month with their first batch of pre-season action coming shortly after that. The Pistons have a four-game exhibition slate before the 2026-27 campaign kicks off in earnest, but that is going to be a crucial time for the squad.
While most teams breeze through the pre-season, Detroit reloaded during the offseason with several personnel changes that are going to have an every-game impact on the Pistons rotation. With Tobias Harris, Marcus Sasser, Caris LeVert and Isaiah Stewart moving on to various other squads, the Pistons have the challenge of working in a new batch of veteran role players and a pair of rookies without losing the defense-first identity that helped the franchise obtain the top seed last season.
With John Collins ostensibly sliding into the starting lineup to take over for Harris, the rest of the incoming Detroit players will likely have a bit more of an intense battle for playing time. After several seasons on the Oklahoma City Thunder, Isaiah Joe is a sharp-shooting off-ball guard who is a strong candidate to earn minutes at the two right off the jump. Joe presents a lot of the same efficient long-range qualities that made Duncan Robinson a mainstay in the starting lineup last season, so the Pistons have the option of staggering the two lethal shooters or even overlapping their minutes for an added dose of three-point power.
Sticking in the backcourt, there is a strong contention that rookie point guard Ebuka Okorie could challenge Daniss Jenkins for minutes in the early season. Okorie averaged nearly 20 points per game during the Summer League, and the former Stanford floor general looks like a quality option to run the reserve unit. Now, the Pistons have flexibility in this department considering Detroit played both Jenkins and Cade Cunningham on the court during round two against the Cleveland Cavaliers, so there is a potential for Okorie to predominantly run the second unit without eating into Jenkins’ minutes too much. In any event, a strong pre-season and start to the 2026-27 campaign from Okorie would bode well for the Pistons as a fluid offensive unit moving forward with Jenkins as an option all throughout.
As for the two arrivals from the Milwaukee Bucks, Taurean Prince is expected to have a quicker road to regular minutes than Gary Harris. As a longtime veteran, Prince is a strong perimeter shooter who can find his own looks in a variety of sets on the wing, and the Pistons could use that experience at the three. Prince shot over 40% from three-point range as well last season, so his ability to space and provide a target for Okorie could help with the rookie’s development as well.
Now, it’s more than possible that Harris contributes at different times during the regular season as well, but given Detroit’s roster, he looks like a player on the fringe of the bench at the moment who offers quality depth if needed.
