The Detroit Pistons have worked out several prospects who were invited to the league’s green room for the 2026 NBA Draft
While the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs have just begun their offseason after a five-game battle in the NBA Finals, the Detroit Pistons, on the other hand, have been locked into draft prep for the better part of a month now. In that time, the Pistons have brought a slew of players in for pre-draft workouts, and they’ve been able to conduct their evaluations a bit closer.
From a needs standpoint, Detroit is widely expected to use their first round pick (No. 21 overall) to add three-point shooting. Now, the question becomes whether the Pistons target that type of perimeter impact from a guard or if they’d have the opportunity to take a sharp-shooting stretch four who fell out of the lottery range on draft day. There has also been discussion that the Pistons could trade up into the first round for a player like Yaxel Lendeborg, but that does not necessarily match Trajan Langdon’s history of pragmatism.
Either way, the Pistons have had time to do their homework on a fairly deep crop of rookies, so the organization should have several exciting players available when Detroit steps up to the podium less than 10 days from now. Along those lines, a list of 20 players who received invites to the NBA’s green room on draft night has been released, and it’s a list that’s chock-full of Pistons targets.
As expected, the first half of the list is filled with elite players such as AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, but the second half contains several players with a connection to the Pistons who could benefit the squad moving forward as part of a team that already won 60 regular season games a season ago.
When looking at Detroit’s backcourt options, both Christian Anderson and Cameron Carr have already participated in pre-draft workouts for the Pistons, so it is clear that Langdon is interested in their three-point shooting ability. Both players ranked among college basketball’s elite from beyond the arc last season, so it’s no surprise to see their inclusion in the draft day event. Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz is another prospect with long range who’s been linked to the Pistons, so he’s a name to keep in mind at the No. 21 spot as well.
When flexing to the Pistons’ other need entering the draft, there are several players with Detroit interest who could fall in the mid-to-late first round range and also received green room invites. Lendeborg, as mentioned earlier, is a possibility to fall in that range along with Michigan teammates Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara. Outside of those options, Chris Cenac Jr. could make some sense for Detroit if they opted to focus on the interior, while Tennessee’s Nate Ament could be a stretch four with a lot of scoring ability at the pro level.
All of these players were invited to wait in the NBA’s green room on draft night, which means that they’re all highly thought of across the league. The Pistons might be forced to look outside of this list, but there’s a good chance that draft night will feature a few surprises along the way, so it’s too early to rule out who won’t be on the board at No. 21 overall.
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