Detroit went into the offseason with a simple assignment: find a real second scorer and take some of the heat off Cade Cunningham. Months later, that job still isn’t done.
That’s the biggest problem hanging over the Pistons’ summer. For a team that was expected to make noise after a season that ended in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the activity has been far quieter than anyone around the league would have guessed. And the moves they have made haven’t solved the central issue.
Isaiah Joe is the clearest positive. He arrives from the Oklahoma City Thunder and gives Detroit the floor spacing it badly needed.
Last season, he shot 42% from three-point land in 71 games and averaged 11 points per game. That kind of shooting can matter fast, and he could make that role his own.
But the rest of the picture is less encouraging. The swap that sent Tobias Harris to the San Antonio Spurs for John Collins helps Detroit’s athleticism, yet it doesn’t replace the offense Harris could create.
Collins, at least so far, doesn’t look like the answer to the scoring problem the Pistons were trying to fix. Moving Isaiah Stewart’s contract also leaves the frontcourt thinner and less physical.
So while Detroit has patched a few holes, the biggest one is still wide open. The Pistons came into the offseason looking for another scorer to ease the burden on Cunningham, and that hasn’t happened. Until it does, it’s hard to call this anything other than a step backward.
There’s also the Jalen Duren situation, and it has turned into an awkward mess. Detroit wanted to keep him and build around him and Cunningham as the team’s frontcourt and backcourt leaders.
Instead, extension talks have become complicated, with Duren seeking something close to a max deal. He is eligible for that kind of money, but the Pistons have every reason to hesitate after his woeful performance in the playoffs.
To make matters worse for Duren, the teams that might have been interested in him appear to have cooled off. That leaves a standoff that feels pointless and only seems headed in one direction.
At this point, a new deal with the Pistons looks extremely likely. The bigger question is what version of Duren they’ll actually get when this is over.
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Pistons And Jalen Duren Are Stuck In A Frustrating Standoff
Jalen Durens contract talks with the Pistons have settled into the kind of stalemate that can hang over a franchises summer. Detroit has reportedly put a deal on the table in the $32-35 million per season range, but the sides have not found common ground, and the gap has been enough to keep the negotiations from moving forward in any meaningful way.
There also does not appear to be much outside pressure forcing a resolution. With cap space drying up around the league and Detroit turning away sign-and-trade ideas, the Pistons have leaned on their own message that they still want Duren in the fold, even sending Dwane Casey out publicly to reinforce that point. If the impasse drags on, Duren is left weighing a qualifying offer that would come with real financial risk and little long-term security. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Just Got Dragged Back Into The NBA Tanking Debate
For years, the Bulls previous front office treated Detroit as the warning label in any conversation about tanking. Rather than tear it down and chase draft position, Chicago kept trying to stay competitive through a string of disappointing seasons, and the Pistons prolonged rebuild was often held up as the reason to avoid a full reset.
Now the argument looks different around the league, because the old fear of becoming Detroit has been replaced by a much more complicated question about whether staying in the middle is any better. Chicagos new leadership under Bryson Graham and Tiago Splitter is leaning into a younger core, including Caleb Wilson, while the Pistons own turnaround has only made the debate louder for teams trying to decide whether patience, pain, or a harder pivot is the smarter path. [Read more 🡒]