The Detroit Pistons acquired the 21st overall selection in the 2026 NBA Draft via a pick swap with the Minnesota Timberwolves from a three-team deal also involving the Chicago Bulls at the Trade Deadline
Since the 2026 NBA Draft is right around the corner, the Detroit Pistons are reaching the end of their pre-draft evaluations before they’ll have a chance to add to a squad to last season’s 60-win squad. This year, the Pistons have the 21st overall pick in the draft, but they’re without a second-rounder at the moment after holding only a second-rounder in 2025 (Chaz Lanier).
Given the team’s three-point shooting limitations, the Pistons have brought in a fairly large collection of three-point shooters like Isaiah Evans, Cameron Carr and Christian Anderson for workouts, and all three are reasonable possibilities at the mid-to-late first round range. Other prospects, such as Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie, has elicited more in-depth scouting from the Pistons’ team, so it would not be a surprise to see Detroit target a backcourt player with the No. 21 selection.
“I think we were fortunate kind of where we landed in terms of that swath of picks,” Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon said yesterday. “There was a chance that Minnesota hadn’t played well, then we could have just stayed at where we were. But given the chances, we were able to secure that 21st pick that we have and feel that we’re going to get a good player here. Couldn’t have anticipated the amount of players that went back through the NIL to school, so I think that has thinned up the depth of the draft. I still think it is a good draft, and I think we’ll find a good player at 21. I don’t think we’ll look at flipping back or getting out, but could we look at situations to get up as need be? But I do think if we stay at 21 that we’ll find a player we like.”
Based on that response, Langdon does not anticipate that the Pistons will move down on draft day, but he did leave open the door for a potential deal to trade up into the mid-first round or even the lottery range, though the latter would be an optimistic goal. Still, there have been reports that the Pistons were interested in Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg, and he’s a great example of a prospect projected in the lottery range who Detroit need to move up for in order to have a shot at.
“I don’t think there will be much movement within the lottery because those teams will get good players where they’re at, but I think maybe outside of it, picks could be used for players or picks could be used to flip forward when you have teams with multiple first round picks,” Langdon said.
So, the Pistons are relatively comfortable with their position at the pivot point of round one, especially since draft day is always filled with a few surprises along the way even if other GMs are remaining relatively tight-lipped for the time being.
“We’ve talked to 29 teams around different things and everybody’s been pretty vague with concepts, but I do have a feel that people will be aggressively trying to get better or looking at ways to get better, which we’re doing the same thing through different road maps and trying to figure out what the best one is and how it intersects with other teams to get things done.
Of course, the Pistons could target a frontcourt player in the draft since Tobias Harris is entering unrestricted free agency, but Detroit is expected to bring the veteran back for another go-around. With that understanding, it appears that guards will be the focus for the Pistons on draft day to help space the floor better around Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren moving forward.
For more information on the latest Detroit Pistons team or player news, follow @EricJRutter on X for continued basketball coverage. Also be sure to look up Roundtable - Michigan Men Media on Facebook for continued social media coverage of all the sporting teams in the Mitten.
