The Pistons have spent the summer building like a team that expects the East to open up, and the work around the edges has been sharp. Detroit already has the kind of core front offices spend years trying to assemble - Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson - and after a 60-win season that finished with the third-best record in the league, the next step was obvious: add more shooting, more size and more flexibility.
That’s where the John Collins move comes in. Detroit brought in the veteran forward as a lob threat for Cunningham, while also adding rebounding, depth and experience.
Taurean Prince and Gary Harris came along in the deal, giving the Pistons even more useful pieces around the edges. Collins had a rough year with the LA Clippers, putting up 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds, but his 2024-25 numbers - 19.0 points and 8.2 rebounds - show why the Pistons are betting on a bounce-back.
Put him next to Cunningham, Duren and Thompson, and the starting group suddenly looks like one of the more productive ones in the league.
Detroit didn’t stop there. The Pistons also sent Isaiah Stewart, Caris LeVert and Marcus Sasser out in the multi-team deal, but they offset that by bringing in frontcourt shooting from Collins and Prince, both of whom shot above 40% from 3 last season.
Then came another smart swing: two future second-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Isaiah Joe. The move looked like a steal, especially with Joe coming off a career year, averaging 11.1 points while making 42.3% of his 3-point tries in 2025-26.
Joe gives Detroit yet another elite perimeter weapon to pair with Duncan Robinson, who shot 41.0% from deep last season. On paper, the Pistons look deep, balanced and built for Cunningham, who finished fifth in MVP voting and is entering his prime. The front office has clearly spent the offseason trying to make the most of that window.
The rest of the East has also been busy. The Philadelphia 76ers made the biggest splash, trading Paul George for 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown before signing LeBron James.
The Thunder made their own kind of winning moves, bringing in Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein before winning their first title in franchise history in 2025. Detroit’s approach has been quieter, but no less meaningful.
The one unfinished piece is Duren. His extension talks remain unresolved, and the stalemate has stretched into the final week of August.
That matters because Duren is coming off a fourth season that brought his first All-Star selection and All-NBA Third Team honors. He averaged 19.5 points on 65% shooting and 10.5 rebounds, but the playoffs told a more uneven story.
In the opening round, Duren didn’t give Detroit his usual double-double production right away. He had eight points and seven rebounds in a 112-101 Game 1 loss to the Magic, then followed with 11 points and nine rebounds as the Pistons tied the series at 2-2. He closed the series with 15 points and 15 rebounds in a do-or-die Game 7, helping Detroit finish off a 116-94 blowout to move on.
Even so, his inconsistency drew attention, especially because many thought the Magic pushed the Pistons farther than they should have. Against the eventual-champion Knicks in the second round, Duren settled in, but his scoring still didn’t match the regular season. He averaged 11.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the six-game series.
Detroit is reportedly prepared to offer Duren a four-year, $160 million extension ahead of the 2026-27 season, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer. Fischer said, “This time last year, I remember hearing how acrimonious it was between Josh Giddey and Chicago, and how Dyson Daniels and the Hawks were so far apart,” Fischer said.
“Kuminga even gets a decent payday from Golden State. We still have about a month left for restricted free agents to come to terms with their incumbent teams.
“I talked with someone today who still believes he’s on track for a four-year, $160 million deal. He’s clearly gonna want something closer to what Walker Kessler got than what Mitchell Robinson got. But when all things are said and done.”
If a deal doesn’t happen, Duren could take the one-year qualifying offer worth $9.6 million and bet on himself. That would set him up to chase roughly a $40 million or more annual salary on a max deal, and it could even lead him elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent. ESPN’s Tim McMahon said the negotiation could leave a lasting mark.
“The biggest question I’ve got about the Pistons is what’s going to be the lingering cloud when this whole Jalen Duren situation gets finalized or at least temporarily settled,” McMahon said. “Is he going to sign an extension?
I don’t know. This has been an awfully nasty negotiation.
So, I’ve got real concerns there because I understand they believe Ausar Thompson is their second-best player, but Jalen Duren was an All-NBA player for them last year.
“He was a massive factor in them winning 60 games. You can certainly criticize the playoff performance, but he was a massive factor in them winning 60 games.
I don’t know him. I don’t have a great feel for his temperament or anything like that, but sometimes these negotiations, when they are ugly like this, can have long-lasting consequences.”
For now, the Pistons are counting on the roster they’ve assembled to carry them forward. The shooting is better, the rebounding is stronger and the supporting cast around Cunningham looks deeper than it did a year ago. Still, the cleanest finish to an impressive offseason would be getting Duren locked in long term before 2026-27.
In Other News...
Pistons Need More Cheap Veterans Like One Key Rotation Surprise
Javonte Green ended up being one of the most useful surprises in Detroit last season, the kind of low-drama rotation piece every contender needs and every cap-strapped team appreciates. He was available every night, brought energy off the bench and gave the Pistons a reliable wing option who could defend, create extra possessions and knock down enough shots to matter, all on a one-year minimum deal that fit neatly into a roster still being built around young talent.
The Pistons brought Green back on another minimum contract, a move that says plenty about how they want to survive the next stage of roster building. As payroll pressure grows, Detroit is going to need more veterans like him, players who can fill real minutes without tying up money or future flexibility, and Green gives them exactly that sort of inexpensive stability while the bigger pieces around him continue to develop. [Read more 🡒]
Cade Cunningham Gets An Early Statement Chance Against The New Look Celtics
Opening night is giving Detroit a real early test, and it comes with the kind of spotlight Cade Cunningham usually wants. The Pistons draw Boston right away, which means the first look at the new roster will not be a quiet one. John Collins, Isaiah Joe, Gary Harris, Taurean Prince and first-round pick Ebuka Okoire all figure into the conversation as Detroit tries to show how its upgraded pieces fit around Cunningham against one of the Easts most familiar measuring sticks.
Boston does not look the same either, with Jaylen Brown out and Paul George and Mitchell Robinson joining the mix around Jayson Tatum. That changes the tone of the matchup and makes the early minutes especially interesting, because Cunningham will be asked to set the standard against a Celtics group still figuring itself out. For Detroit, it is more than just a season opener. It is a chance to see whether the Pistons can make an immediate statement against a contender that has reshaped its own identity. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons May Have Avoided A Risky DeMar DeRozan Mistake
DeMar DeRozans latest stop came off the board on August 21, when he signed a one-year deal with the Denver Nuggets, ending a summer of speculation for teams that had been weighing his fit. Detroit was among the clubs that took a hard look, but the Pistons ultimately passed on the veteran scorer as they continued shaping a roster around a different kind of timeline and style of play.
For a young team trying to keep its direction clear, that decision may have mattered more than it first appeared. DeRozans longevity and proven shot-making still make him an attractive name, but the concerns around how his game would mesh in Detroit were real enough that the front office chose to spend elsewhere, on moves it believed better matched the current build. [Read more 🡒]