Pistons don’t get much respect in The Athletic’s 146-player poll

The Detroit Pistons wrapped up their 2025-26 regular season on Sunday by earning their 60th win on the road against the Indiana Pacers. The Pistons will now gear up for their upcoming run in the NBA playoffs, with Cade Cunningham thankfully back and healthy after a collapsed lung sidelined him last month.

Despite their status as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Pistons still have plenty of doubters, both in the media, and apparently from their peers around the league as well.

The Athletic recently conducted a poll of 146 players from around the NBA, with one of the questions being which team, other than their own, they thought had the best chance to win the championship.

The Pistons received just 4.1 percent of the vote, well behind the Boston Celtics, who got 8.2 percent.

“The Pistons are really, really good,” one voter said, per Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “But it’s hard not to pick the Thunder again.”

Indeed, the Thunder got far and away the most votes of any team, but some were surprised to see the Pistons that low in the poll.

“Tough team out the East. Not an easy team to beat. They play physical as hell. They dictate the physicality of the game, and if you don’t go in there and play physical with them, they will beat you. They’ll beat the s— out of you,” said one player who voted for the Pistons.

While there are legit concerns about a lack of outside shooting and perimeter playmaking outside of Cunningham, the Pistons still will be extra motivated to prove their doubters wrong when they start their playoff run next Sunday evening at home, against an opponent yet to be determined.

The post Pistons don’t get much respect in The Athletic’s 146-player poll appeared first on ClutchPoints.