Pistons open to making big addition after early playoff exit

The Detroit Pistons were one of the biggest stories of the NBA regular season, racing to a 61-21 record and the best record in the Eastern Conference. However, they struggled in the playoffs, barely escaping the Orlando Magic in seven games in the first round before falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games in the conference semifinals.

There is a lot for the Pistons to build off of coming out of that run. Cade Cunningham has established himself as a superstar, and the Pistons can focus on building around him for the future. However, the team around Cunningham needs to improve. The Pistons don’t have enough shooting around their star point guard, which really hurt them throughout the playoff run.

While Detroit could address that need in the upcoming NBA Draft, a potential trade or free agent signing could also provide the solution. Team president Trajan Langdon recently spoke about building around his young core, via Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.

“We all want to get better,” Langdon said. “I can’t stand here and say we don’t want to get better, so getting better means you’ve gotta win the second round to get better. It doesn’t necessarily mean we need to win 64 games, I don’t think we’re trying to do that though if we do that would be fantastic. But I think we know that we need to be more equipped to compete in the postseason and that’s what we’re looking at doing. Like I already said, it’s adding pieces that help accentuate our three best players, our core three players, and I think that will help us in the regular season and postseason as well. That all goes into the belief we feel like we can be better.”

If the Pistons are set on keeping Jalen Duren in the mix despite a brutal playoff run from the young big man, adding more shooting is an absolute must. Cunningham’s 3-point shot isn’t his biggest strength, and Duren and Ausar Thompson are both a long way away from being reliable perimeter shooters.

However, Duren and Thompson are both elite on the defensive end. Adding a few more shooters to play around the two of them, and preferably getting some playmaking and ball-handling ability out of one of those additions, would make this Pistons team a force heading into the 2026-27 season.

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