2026 NBA Draft Needs: Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons fell short in the playoffs. Too many times, Cade Cunningham was forced to shoulder the entire offense. The Pistons have plenty of play finishers, but they lack secondary creators and ball handlers. This led to a one-dimensional offense that got exploited in the playoffs. Now they are facing an impending contract dispute with Jalen Duren. This year’s draft will influence the Pistons moving forward. Hitting on a prospect will give the extra spark they need to jump to contender status. Missing could stagnate their momentum and keep them as a “good enough” team, not a great team.

State of the Team

Competing: Need handles & consistency

Positional Strengths and Weaknesses

Guards

The Pistons’ guard corps is Cade Cunningham, Daniss Jenkins, Marcus Sasser, and Chaz Lanier.

Cade Cunningham is one of the best players in the NBA and will be an MVP candidate for years to come. He’s an elite ball-handler, shot-maker, playmaker, and perimeter defender. He’s the Pistons’ offense, and with the right pieces around him, they can be true contenders. Daniss Jenkins’ second year in the league saw massive growth. His jumpshot is a major threat, and his passing is sufficient for a backup point guard.

Marcus Sasser has seen his minutes and appearances decline for the past three years. He’s entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract. He needs to show he has more than just a threeball to stay on the roster. Chaz Lanier’s rookie year was one of experimentation and “figuring it out.” He’s far from being a contributor on a playoff team, but he has plenty of athletic tools to develop.

Wings/Forwards

The Pistons’ wing and forward corps is Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland, Duncan Robinson, and Caris LeVert.

Ausar Thompson is one of the most athletic players in the NBA. He finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting and is the ultimate wing defender. However, he has zero threeball, attempting only 24 shots and making 6 this past year. While his cutting is a fine weapon, defenders key in on his one-dimensional offense, which limits the Pistons’ attack. Ron Holland is another wing defender with a poor threeball. However, his defense is only excellent, not elite, and with Thompson on the roster, Holland’s skill set is redundant.

Duncan Robinson is one of the only spacers on the roster. 7.1 of his 9 attempts this past year were beyond the arc. He’s a pure shooting specialist and ideal for a roster full of defenders to cover for his weak defense. Caris LeVert was Cleveland’s sparkplug scorer off the bench, but since leaving Cleveland, he has struggled to recapture the magic. He’s streaky, and the Pistons may use him as salary filler if he doesn’t regain some efficiency and earn his minutes back.

Bigs

The Pistons’ big corps is Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, and Paul Reed

Jalen Duren had a breakout year this past season, making All-NBA Third Team and was expected to land a massive contract this offseason. But he collapsed in the playoffs, and compared to the regular season, his scoring was cut in half. This was just a single postseason, but Duren needs to be the rim-protecting, super-efficient inside scorer consistently if he’s going to be Cunningham’s No. 2.

Isaiah Stewart is the closest thing to a hockey enforcer in the NBA. He has incredible strength and utilizes it as a rim protector and rim-runner. His threeball hasn’t been what it was a couple of years ago, but if he can regain form from deep, he could serve as a wicked curveball to pair with Duren. Paul Reed is another solid backup big man. He improved this year and rebounds better than Stewart. Reed and Stewart both have arguments to be the primary backup, but one of them could convert to power forward in order to clear the logjam of talent.

Draft Needs

The Pistons looked like true contenders in the regular season, securing the first seed in the East. However, the playoffs emphasized their lack of ballhandlers outside of Cade Cunningham. Cade is so integral to their offense, and if he’s having an off night, they don’t have anyone who can step up, take more shots, and hit them. In this draft, the Pistons need to find more creators. Duncan Robinson shouldn’t be a starter just because their starting unit needed shooting that desperately.

Brayden Burries (PG/Guard, Arizona)

The questions about Brayden Burries’ playmaking and whether he can be a top point guard in the league are lessened if he shifts to shooting guard and is drafted by the Pistons. At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, with a 6-foot-6 wingspan, Burries is an ideal combo guard who can take over for Cade Cunningham when needed and slip back into a secondary creator role with ease. The Pistons will need to trade up in the draft to select Burries, but they are in a prime contending window that can be widened by him. At Arizona, Burries was the leading scorer on a talent filled Final Four team and committed himself to unselfish basketball.

Burries is one of the most well-rounded prospects in the draft. This past freshman year, he averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.2 blocks, and 1.5 turnovers on 61.6% true shooting. As a combo guard, he doesn’t have any singular elite trait or tool, but has the speed to take bigger players off the dribble and the strength to finish through contact. He has active hands and, besides Jaden Bradley, shared responsibilities for point-of-attack defense. He switched onto the opposing team’s primary ballhandler often. Burries has the prototypical size needed at the next level.

For a team like the Pistons with an existing structure and set roles, Burries can repeat what he did at Arizona. As a freshman, Burries accepted his role, didn’t try to do too much, and let his team of veterans and equally talented freshmen play their games uninterrupted. The Pistons lack three-point shooting, they look lost without Cade, and struggle to get in a rhythm. Burries shot 39.1% from beyond the arc on 4.6 attempts per game, can lighten the ball-handling duties for Cade, and excelled at keeping all of Arizona locked into the game. Burries isn’t a player who can change a franchise overnight, but his style of play helps teams win with the formula they already have.

Christian Anderson (PG/Guard, Texas Tech)

If the Pistons truly need a secondary ballhandler and passer, Texas Tech sophomore Christian Anderson stands out. At 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, with a 6-foot-6 wingspan, Anderson finished fifth in assists in all of Division One basketball with 7.4 assists per game. Paired with his 3.3 turnovers per game, his solid 2.24 assist-to-turnover ratio marks him as a premier playmaker. Outside of his passing, his handles and threeball are both among the best in the class.

Anderson initially sounds like a major defensive liability given his size, but he has some of the highest defensive effort of any guard in this year’s draft. He’s constantly hustling and fights for all 38.4 minutes he averaged nightly. He doesn’t have elite athleticism, but his instincts, hustle, and active hands generated 1.5 steals per game. He needs to add more strength to truly quiet the defensive liability whispers, but no player will try harder.

Anderson’s handle is tight, refined, and thrives in pick-and-roll situations. His court vision, ability to predict defensive shifts, and knack for finding the hidden throughline would give Miss Cleo a run for her money. He has both speed and touch on his passes, and the chaos of his dribble and gravity of his 41.5% threeball on 7.9 attempts per game give him plenty of playmaking highlight tape to fill. He can truly shoot from anywhere on the court. Whether it's off the dribble or on a catch-and-shoot, the ball is flying off his fingers lightning fast.

The Pistons have plenty of solid point guards, but they lack the reliable sharpshooting that Anderson can provide. Additionally, with athletes like Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland, and Jalen Duren, Anderson can elevate their offense without Cade and can be elevated by them on defense. He could truly thrive on the Pistons and has the adaptability to be a threeball specialist who evolves into a champion of the second unit.