The Detroit Pistons could look at adding depth to their front court in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft
As the Detroit Pistons enter the offseason, the team has more than just a couple directions they can take in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft. After a 60-win regular season, the Pistons have a lot of components that are necessary to challenge for conference supremacy with a young core to boot, but Detroit could serve to shore up their perimeter shooting with a nod to their long-term options at power forward before the 2026-27 campaign kicks off.
Right now, Tobias Harris is a 35-year old vet who started every single game when available last season for the Pistons, but he’s also headed for unrestricted free agency. Harris has impressed the right people during his second stint in the Motor City and he’s looked upon favorably within the organization, and Trajan Langdon issued a vote of confidence that he could return next season.
In order to do so, the Pistons would have to reach another agreement on the right contract for Harris at this stage in his career, and it’s feasible that Detroit envisions a more complementary role off the bench moving forward. Harris showed that he can reliably offer 13 points per game with metronome-like consistency in the mid-range, but the Pistons need to identify their power forward of the future and a reasonably deep draft just over three weeks away could be the right time to do so.
Along those lines, Michigan power forward Morez Johnson Jr. is a name that’s quickly risen up a lot of draft boards after he won a National Championship with the Wolverines this spring, and he may have even risen out of the Pistons’ current range at No. 21, but the mid-to-late first round is always difficult to predict.
But based on his college tape, Johnson checks a lot of boxes that the Pistons have proven to covet. At 6-9, Johnson is a big body who can mix it up in the post and finishes strong when attacking the bucket. Johnson averaged 13 points and seven rebounds last year for Michigan, but his March Madness surge was crucial in his team’s ability to win the school’s first National Championship since 1989. Simply put, Johnson established himself as a guy who rose to the occasion when the lights were brightest with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in the natty victory over UConn.
As a result of that late-season surge, Johnson has alerted the rest of the basketball world that he’s a big game player who can punish teams in the paint with an array of low-post moves while converting his shots overall at a more than respectable 62% rate. Initially, Johnson looked to be a late first round selection, which would have worked out well for the Pistons after obtaining the No. 21 slot via three-team trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls. But over the last two months, Johnson has risen all the way to near-top 10 status, which means the Pistons might need to move up in the draft to have a shot at the title-winning Wolverine.
But with Harris entering free agency, the Pistons could lock up a talented four who would add to the team’s identity as a paint-driven offense that attacks the glass with Johnson in mind. Johnson’s teammate, Yaxel Lendeborg, is another popular name within the state of Michigan in terms of Pistons draft targets, but he’d likely require a draft day trade to land as well.
Of course, the Pistons still have Ron Holland on the squad as another option at the four, but the second-year player saw his minutes slashed when the team advanced to the postseason. Additionally, Isaiah Stewart has played a little bit of power forward, but J.B. Bickerstaff has not embraced a two-big system with Stewart and Jalen Duren very often, so it seems that the team is still searching for the next iteration of the Pistons power forward for the future.
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