The Detroit Pistons quadrupled their win total from two years ago and won a playoff series for the first time in 18 years. They nearly won two, but were blown out Sunday, May 17, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The front office views the 2025-26 season as an undisputed success. But if you ask some fans and pundits, the Pistons may already have missed their best shot at winning a title.
After the 125-94 stinker against the Cleveland Cavaliers and playoff elimination, coach J.B. Bickerstaff deliberately praised his team and spoke to the big picture, rather than dwell on the disappointment of their loss. He bristled at a series of questions that suggested, after winning 60 games, the team fell short of expectations in the postseason.
“I don’t think we fell short of anything,” he said at Little Caesars Arena. “I don’t like the direction of your question, I’ll be honest with you. These guys have improved massively and done a great job. Anything other than positivity towards this group is unacceptable. The turnaround from where we’ve come from, what these guys have been willing to do.
“Everybody wants to win a championship every year. How much did you grow? How much did you improve? Did you sacrifice for the greater good of the team? Our guys did that collectively every single day and we got better and we put ourselves in position to be here. There’s nothing disappointing about this group and the outcome of this.”
During his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon struck a similar tone to numerous questions concerning the Pistons’ decision to not “go for it” with a big move, in an Eastern Conference perceived to be open for the taking.
“We were a couple of minutes away from winning the game that would’ve had us playing tonight,” Langdon said. “There’s a lot of success and you can’t take away from that. You can nitpick at certain things but I think 60 wins and losing in the second round, I think if any one of us would’ve said that back in September, we would’ve been pretty satisfied with that.”
Sixty wins implies maturity, and thus, a need to be urgent to maximize the team’s window. But unlike some peers in the conference, the Pistons have good reason to think they are just now at the beginning of their contention window, rather than midway through or toward the end.
From an overhead view, there are substantial differences between the Pistons and their three playoff foes over the past two springs – the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Cavs – that indicate the Pistons have the most room for growth.
From a salary and asset standpoint, the Pistons resemble a team in the midst of its building process rather than a traditional contender.
Pistons have their draft picks
The Pistons beat the Magic in Round 1, overcoming a 3-1 series deficit – with help from an untimely Game 4 injury to the Magic’s Franz Wagner – went seven games against the Cavaliers in the second round and could’ve given the Knicks a competitive series after last season’s fierce first-round matchup. They did so while being the only team in the group to be mostly organically grown.
The Knicks, Cavaliers and Magic have all swung big trades for star-caliber players in recent seasons. As a result, they’re asset-strapped with very little draft capital available.
The Pistons, on the other hand, have all of their future first-round picks and 15 future second-rounders available.
ESPN salary cap analyst Bobby Marks recently ranked all 30 NBA teams into seven tiers based on their draft assets. The Pistons were in Tier 3, with all of their own first-round draft picks available. They can trade up to five, including this year’s once the draft begins June 23.
The Cavs, Magic and Knicks were in Tier 6, as they each only have one tradeable first-round pick available.
The Cavaliers went all-in by adding Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. It cost the Knicks five first-round picks to trade for Mikal Bridges in 2024, and an additional first-rounder to trade for Karl-Anthony Towns a year later. And Orlando gave up four unprotected first-round picks and a pick swap for Desmond Bane last summer, only to blow a 3-1 series lead to the Pistons and fall in the first round for the third year in a row.
The Pistons, after winning 60 games, are better-positioned than most of their peers if a desirable trade opportunity comes along.
The Pistons aren’t financially burdened yet
The Cavs and Knicks, the two most recent teams to eliminate the Pistons from the playoffs, are currently in the East finals with a trip to the NBA Finals at stake. They paid a lot to get there.
Cleveland has the league’s most expensive payroll and are the only second apron team in the league. The second apron is a restrictive, punitive salary cap threshold that, among other things, severely limits a team’s ability to upgrade the roster. It’s designed to force good teams to shed salary. The Boston Celtics had to trade Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday after last season because of it. The Cavs, too, will have difficult choices to make this summer.
The Knicks have the second-highest payroll in the NBA. And the Magic have the third-highest projected payroll next season and will be over the second apron. They were limited this season by Wagner missing half of it and now will have to make roster adjustments this offseason by trimming salary.
The Pistons are unsaddled – only Cade Cunningham is on a maximum contract, and all of their veteran players are on reasonable contracts.
That financial picture will change soon with the expected re-signing Jalen Duren this summer and a potential extension for Ausar Thompson. Langdon will have to balance improving the roster while also taking care of his core players.
The Pistons are just now approaching that financial hill. The other teams are well over the hill.
“We’re still super young,” Langdon said Tuesday. “All of our guys are going to iterate and get better. They’re going to all be better players next year than they were this year, just like we saw from last year to this season. We’ll take a deep dive, we’ll figure out what we need to add and we’ll step out, we’ll look at it at 35 thousand feet. We won’t look at us as a 1-seed. We look at us as, ‘How do we get better?’”
The Pistons are at the start of their window
Championship windows close when teams max out, typically due to a combination of financial pressures, age and injuries. The Pistons do not have those pressures – they emerged as a surprise contender with one of the league’s youngest rosters and have several pathways available to meaningfully get better.
Cunningham will be 25 years old to start next season. Duren will still be 22. Thompson will be 23. Ron Holland will be 21.
Langdon acknowledged the East might be stronger in 2026-27, with Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton back and healthy to start the season. He’s anticipating the Pistons will be, too.
“How do we get better is going to be the most important thing, whether it’s externally, whether it’s through trade, whether it’s through the draft, whether it’s adding pieces in free agency, I think we’ll turn over all those stones,” he said. “We’ll make the decision that we feel is best to compete at the highest level and I do agree with you, I think the Eastern Conference will probably be stronger this year. But I don’t think it wasn’t strong this year, which was indicated by our first-round matchup.”
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: No, Pistons didn’t miss their NBA championship window – it starts now
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
