WHEN CADE CUNNINGHAM scanned the locker room following a November win throughout a franchise-record 13-game profitable streak, he noticed large man Isaiah Stewart, the longest-tenured member of the Detroit Pistons.
“That man,” Cunningham stated quietly, “Is a winner.”
One yr earlier than Cunningham joined Detroit because the No. 1 choose in 2021, Stewart was one of many very first draft picks made by former normal supervisor Troy Weaver, the well-regarded government employed away from the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder and tasked with restoring the Pistons franchise. Stewart match the blueprint of what they had been trying to construct: an undersized, robust middle and a throwback to the “Unhealthy Boys” title groups of 1989 and 1990.
However in Stewart’s first 4 seasons, the Pistons went 74-244. He confirmed promise as a rugged defender in these years, sufficient in order that groups would inquire a couple of commerce. The Pistons by no means budged. And Stewart, regardless of the mounting losses, was flattered by the curiosity however stored his deal with serving to lead the following part of Detroit’s rebuild.
“I do know I can not get replaced,” Stewart instructed ESPN lately. “I do not say that to be conceited, however I do know I resonate with the town. I used to be right here within the trenches, setting the tradition when no one did not give a f— about Detroit.”
That franchise’s loyalty to Stewart and its roster has paid off. And two seasons after amassing probably the most consecutive losses in NBA historical past, the Pistons (17-5) are atop the Jap Convention on the quarter mark of the 2025-26 season.
Led by the league’s finest younger core exterior of Oklahoma Metropolis — Cunningham, Stewart, Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson are all beneath 25 — and guided by early Coach of the Yr contender J.B. Bickerstaff, the Pistons claimed their conference-leading seventeenth win on Dec. 1. They did not accomplish that till Jan. 1 final season, and in no way throughout their woeful 14-68 marketing campaign in 2023-24.
The identical staff that after could not end video games now finds consolation in clutch time. The identical gamers who as soon as discovered artistic methods to lose are actually spearheading spectacular wins. And even once they’ve been stretched by hectic conditions, the Pistons have but to do greater than bend.
Sure, Detroit Basketball is completely again.
FRUSTRATION VIRTUALLY DRIPPED off Cunningham as he walked down the lengthy and lonely hallway to handle the postgame media. He regarded like a person who had aged years in the course of the eight weeks the Pistons went winless in the course of the first half of 2023-24, not the precocious guard tabbed to resurrect the proud franchise.
“We’re not 2-26 unhealthy,” he stated following the staff’s loss to the Utah Jazz on Dec. 21, 2023, Detroit’s twenty fifth of a league-record 28 straight defeats.
“No manner.”
The Pistons appeared rudderless. First-year coach Monty Williams had acquired a file contract after his spectacular run with the Phoenix Suns, however it rapidly grew to become obvious that he wasn’t the fitting match to information a staff reliant on a lot youth.
Cunningham was routinely requested in quiet moments, “Why you?” a query with the underlying implication that he was shouldering all of the accountability when the blame had so many authors.
He would usually shrug, or stare into area, and reply: It must be me.
“Perhaps we assessed some issues fallacious,” Pistons proprietor Tom Gores instructed reporters the next day. “I am apologizing to the followers. … we have now to proper the ship.”
It is nearly not possible to juxtapose that saga’s imagery in opposition to the enjoyment that has been permeating these days all through Detroit’s Little Caesars Enviornment, the place late-game woes have been changed by clutch performances.
The Pistons are 12-4 in clutch time this season, holding their opponents to a league-best 33.7% taking pictures when video games are inside 5 factors within the last 5 minutes or in additional time.
And solely Milwaukee Bucks celebrity Giannis Antetokounmpo scores extra factors within the fourth quarter than Cunningham’s 9.5 per sport.
“Time and time once more, he does the job once we want him to do it most,” Bickerstaff stated Monday after Cunningham buried back-to-back buckets within the last minute to drop the Atlanta Hawks.
“He embraces that function.”
UNDER A SIGN that reads “The Dawg Pound” sit Stewart and Duren’s adjoining lockers. And relying on the evening, one of many two large males will management the auxiliary twine.
If it is Stewart, you may hear reggae rap or Afro beats, a nod to his Jamaican roots. If it is Duren, something from mid-’90s R&B to ’90s rap — from Maxwell to Gang Starr — will fill the room. (Take into account Duren wasn’t born till 2003.)
That old-soul connection to Bickerstaff has been key to Duren’s breakout season, with the 46-year-old coach difficult the fourth-year middle over the summer season to enhance his on-ball abilities and get in optimum form. Duren has all the time drawn comparisons to Chris Webber, a participant Bickerstaff’s dad, Bernie, coached in Washington. Now, Duren is evolving into a contemporary model.
“Once I first got here in, individuals had me pegged as a pick-and-roll, dunker’s spot, lob menace, which is comprehensible,” Duren instructed ESPN. “However I obtained much more to my sport, I am excited to indicate it. I can do it persistently, be comfy with it and never give it some thought. That is what has helped me take this subsequent step.”
Bickerstaff took a severe method to Duren’s improvement over the summer season, working him out for 2 weeks and constructing a uncommon stage of closeness that wasn’t misplaced on the massive man who simply turned 22 final month.
“That was the primary time since I have been within the NBA the place that occurred,” Duren stated. “I do not know if he is aware of how a lot that meant to me, [but] that confirmed me how a lot he cared about me.”
Stewart, as soon as certainly one of 5 facilities on the roster, was an early believer in his pairing with Duren, whom the Pistons drafted two years later with the idea that he was their middle of the longer term.
“Me and him on the court docket collectively, we trigger havoc,” Stewart stated in mid-November. “I do know lots of guys within the league do not need to face that.”
The numbers did not all the time bear that out. Two seasons in the past, neither had been floor-spreaders — Duren was a vertical spacer with ballhandling potential, whereas Stewart was a extra old-school bruiser. Lineups that includes the duo had been minus-3.5 factors per 100 possessions. (Add in Cunningham, and the trio was minus-2.1 — not a stage that spelled promise for the longer term.)
However not solely did Weaver relent, resisting gives from high contending groups, so did new GM Trajan Langdon when he took over in 2024. Now, Duren and Stewart assist anchor the NBA’s third-ranked protection, together with Thompson, who profiles as one of many league’s high perimeter defenders.
Duren averages 11.5 rebounds in simply 29 minutes, trailing solely New York Knicks large man Karl-Anthony Cities amongst East leaders. Stewart, who comes off the bench, has held opponents to simply 44% taking pictures on the rim on 5 makes an attempt an evening — tied for stingiest within the league with San Antonio Spurs middle Luke Kornet. The Duren-Stewart duo is now plus-11.5 factors per 100 possessions. With Cunningham that drops barely however to a formidable plus-10.1.
Stewart, who is predicted to be in Defensive Participant of the Yr conversations, goes after all the things and is fifth in blocked photographs at 1.9 per sport (2.9 per 36 minutes). He has additionally developed right into a assured 3-point shooter (40.9%), as protecting him on the court docket with Cunningham and Duren not kills the Pistons’ spacing.
However Stewart, for his half, is aware of the place his affect is felt probably the most. Think about final week, when the Pistons dropped back-to-back video games in opposition to the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, after which Stewart stood at his locker to handle the media.
“I’ve to get us again on monitor,” he stated. “I’ve to set the tone defensively. We have had some slippage.”
Three days later in opposition to the Hawks, he despatched away 5 photographs in a 99-98 old-school win.
A MEASURED APPROACH has outlined Langdon’s tenure since he took over the Pistons’ entrance workplace. In any case, it might have been straightforward to commerce off the younger gamers given all of the losses they’d compiled.
However early on, Langdon established that the thought by no means actually crossed his thoughts. Maybe the largest endorsement got here from Williams, who was purchased out of his then-record contract earlier than Langdon got here aboard.
“Getting background on the gamers from Monty, all of it aligned with what I believed was necessary,” Langdon instructed ESPN. “I feel letting it breathe a bit bit and seeing what we had from myself and my group’s evaluation, I did not need to rush to judgment. As a result of what we had been going to construct was going to be completely different from the predecessor.”
“I feel the worry is, if I commerce one thing away that I do not know what it’s, I’ll remorse it.”
They’re well-positioned for the longer term, though they weren’t capable of come to phrases with Duren and Ivey earlier than the October deadline on rookie deal extensions. Duren is lining himself up for an enormous payday in the summertime, with league executives telling ESPN it might be within the vary of Houston Rockets middle Alperen Sengun’s five-year, $185 million contract signed in October 2024.
The temptation for the Pistons is to get grasping and actually cement themselves among the many elite within the East with a big personnel transfer.
The final time the Pistons had a franchise-record profitable streak was 2003-04, once they gained a title that June. The Indiana Pacers, a rival with the league’s finest file, broke their 13-game profitable streak that season. The loss was so drastic, it was the catalyst for the Pistons to accumulate star ahead Rasheed Wallace weeks later, highlighting a necessity the profitable streak could not masks.
Immediately, issues are extra ambiguous within the East, with no staff being far and away superior. Rating close to the underside in 3-point quantity and center of the pack in accuracy, these wants would definitely be an affordable goal ought to the Pistons search for assist earlier than the Feb. 5 commerce deadline. (The Pistons have a $14.1 million commerce exception they’ll use.)
However Langdon would not consider there’s sufficient proof to help such aggression roughly 1 / 4 by the season. There’s “not sufficient info,” he stated.
“I am all the time pushing my group, whether or not it is from an analytics or personnel standpoint, on how can we get higher? Can that occur internally? Or do we have to do one thing, add one thing, to get higher?
“There’s clearly [the risk of] what these issues price and the way they’ll hamper your future.”
A nine-day Western swing that runs by Christmas is forward, instantly adopted by a home-laden January schedule the place they will depart Detroit as soon as over a 20-day span. These two stretches might give solutions to Langdon’s yet-to-be-revealed info.
“I would not [say] that I am aggressive proper now,” he stated.
But when a deal comes alongside that solidifies the Pistons’ elite standing within the East — and strikes the franchise even farther from the dregs of its grueling years-long rebuild — would Langdon soar on the alternative?
“Opportunistic, positive. At all times opportunistic. “If there’s one thing on the market that we really feel could make us higher, we’ll take a robust look.”
