LeBron James picked Philadelphia, but the Pistons may get their chance to make him regret overlooking Detroit.
For much of the stretch after James told the Lakers he would not be back for his 24th season and before he settled on the Sixers, Detroit barely registered as a possible landing spot. Cade Cunningham even said last week on the Sports Seriously podcast that he never reached out to the 41-year-old.
"I didn't give LeBron a call. I don't think he would have cared to hear what I had to say about it."
Maybe James wouldn’t have shut the door if Cunningham had tried. Still, there was never much evidence Detroit was in the real mix.
The Sixers, Heat, Warriors, Cavaliers, and even the Timberwolves and Nuggets all seemed to be ahead of the Pistons in the chase. If Detroit had been a serious option, it likely would have surfaced along the way.
Instead, James chose Philadelphia, and that part of the story is done. But Detroit can still turn into the team that makes his return to the East a lot less comfortable.
The signing stunned plenty of people, even with Philadelphia already listed among the leading contenders. Most expected James to land with Miami or Cleveland. Instead, he was drawn to what the Sixers had done during the offseason frenzy.
Detroit didn’t make the kind of headline-grabbing move Philadelphia did, like trading for Jaylen Brown or a player of that level. The Pistons took a different route, stacking together a series of smaller additions.
James said after signing with the Sixers that he still wants to "have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship." Philadelphia gives him that opportunity with a roster that looks different from last season, but Detroit could have offered a similar path in its own way, even without the same pile of star power.
The Pistons have mostly stayed under the radar this summer, aside from the ongoing Jalen Duren restricted free agency situation. That remains the biggest unresolved offseason issue, and the way it ends could shape where Detroit goes from here. The longer that stays unsettled, the less ideal it becomes for the organization.
Even with that hanging over them, the Pistons won 60 games last season, reached the second round for the first time since 2008, and pushed through a seven-game first-round series against the Magic before falling in seven games to a more seasoned Cavaliers team in the semifinals.
The rise is real. Detroit may not yet be viewed as a full-blown contender, but Cunningham and company have shown they can make a serious playoff push. They also addressed a glaring need for more shooting this offseason and, unlike the Sixers, don’t carry the same questions about identity or whether everyone will be healthy.
For a player like James, who has long valued the game’s history and significance, Detroit should have held some appeal. He would have had a chance to play in front of one of the league’s most passionate fan bases, the same kind of atmosphere he said he was looking forward to with Philadelphia fans after the signing.
The offseason spotlight has been fixed on the Sixers, and that makes sense. But the Pistons are still there, and they won’t have long to ease into anything once the season begins. They face Philadelphia and LeBron twice in their first eight games, which means Detroit can make its point early.
The bigger test, though, comes later. When the playoffs arrive, the bracket may already have New York or Philadelphia penciled in by plenty of people as the East’s top path. Detroit is trying to crash that conversation, and LeBron already missed it once.
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