Detroit Pistons Projected Starting Lineup And Rotation For 2026-27: Built For A Deeper Playoff Run?

For most of the summer, the biggest Pistons story revolved around one specific thing: Jalen Duren, because Detroit somehow went from having a 22-year-old All-Star and All-NBA center under control to watching his restricted free agency become one of the most dramatic contract situations of the offseason.

Duren stayed away from Media Day and the start of training camp, had a $9.6 million qualifying offer sitting there as a way to reach unrestricted free agency in 2027, and turned down several of Detroit’s offers while the two sides argued over a new deal. Then, right before the deadline, Duren agreed to five years and $200.0 million fully guaranteed, keeping one of Detroit’s three most important young players around after a season in which he put up 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on 65.0% from the field, made his first All-Star team, and earned All-NBA Third Team honors.

Outside of all that drama, the Pistons got John Collins in the huge six-team trade and then signed him for three years and $51.0 million, Isaiah Joe arrived from the Thunder for two second-round picks, Kevin Huerter came back for three years and $27.0 million, and No. 17 pick Ebuka Okorie comes in as a future piece, and also locked up Ausar Thompson on a five-year, $155.0 million extension.

The cost was losing some familiar pieces, because Tobias Harris left for the Spurs, Isaiah Stewart went to the Grizzlies, Marcus Sasser went to the Mavericks, and Caris LeVert landed with the Bucks. It’s a different roster, but not a different plan, which has a pretty high standard now. The Pistons went 60-22 last season, finished with the No. 1 seed in the East, posted the league’s second-best defensive rating at 109.7, and finished third in net rating at +8.2. Then the playoffs got ugly fast, as Detroit needed seven games to survive the Magic after falling behind 3-1, and the Cavaliers finally ended the run in another seven-game series, including a brutal 125-94 loss in Game 7.

So, after one of their most successful seasons of the century, can the Pistons replicate that and finally break through to the Eastern Conference Finals? Let’s take a look.

Starting Lineup

Point Guard: Cade Cunningham

Shooting Guard: Ausar Thompson

Small Forward: Duncan Robinson

Power Forward: John Collins

Center: Jalen Duren

Everything still starts with Cade Cunningham, and at this point we’re way past talking about whether he can be the best player on a good team. Now it’s MVP talk that we’re having with him. Cunningham finished last season at 23.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 9.9 assists in 64 games while shooting 46.1% from the field and 34.2% from three, made his second straight All-Star team, earned All-NBA First Team, and finished fifth in MVP voting. Detroit basically put the entire offense in his hands, and he still got them to 60 wins with a 117.9 offensive rating.

The playoffs actually made me trust Cunningham more, not less. He jumped to 28.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists over 14 games, hit 40.2% of his threes, and played nearly 41 minutes per night. The ugly number was 5.6 turnovers per game, but I’d rather have that problem with a 24-year-old handling basically everything than have a star disappear once the postseason starts (no pun intended, Jalen). Cade scored 394 points in 14 games and was clearly Detroit’s No. 1 option every night.

The second guard spot is another task, because Ausar Thompson isn’t there to be a scorer. He put up 9.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists last season while shooting 52.5% from the field, but he also hit only 25.0% from three and 57.1% from the line. Offensively, that’s still a problem. Defensively, he’s ridiculous. Thompson led the NBA in steals, made the All-Defensive First Team, finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and averaged 2.0 steals per game over 73 appearances.

His postseason might’ve been even more interesting. Thompson finished the 14 games at 8.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.8 blocks, becoming the first player since Anthony Davis in 2020 to record at least 25 steals and 25 blocks in one postseason. That’s insane production from a 6-foot-7 wing, and it explains why Detroit was comfortable handing him $155.0 million before he’d ever averaged double figures. The jumper still decides how high the ceiling gets, but he’s already one of the best defensive players in basketball at 23.

Duncan Robinson gets the easiest offensive job of the group, and that’s probably why he fits so well. He gave Detroit 12.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 77 games last season while shooting 45.6% from the field and 41.0% from three. I also think Robinson becomes more important because of the Thompson-Duren pairing. Neither one has to be guarded outside, which means putting an elite shooter next to them isn’t optional.

Collins is probably the most interesting new starter because replacing Harris with him changes the frontcourt more than the raw scoring numbers suggest. He finished last season with the Clippers at 13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 69 games while shooting 55.2% from the field and 40.6% from three. Harris gave Detroit 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds, so on paper there isn’t some giant scoring jump, but Collins is younger, more efficient around the rim, and with his bigger frame he can be a better interior defender than Harris.

Then there’s Duren, and now the contract makes every part of his season more urgent. His 2025-26 jump was massive: 19.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, a 26.1 PER, made the All-Star team, and landed on the All-NBA Third Team. He also improved at the line to 74.7%, which matters for a big man getting there more than six times per game.

The issue is that the playoffs were catastrophic for his contract extension. Duren dropped to 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting only 51.4% from the field, and his true shooting fell to 55.3%. Detroit didn’t just pay $200.0 million for the regular-season version. They need the guy who looked like one of the best young centers in basketball during the postseason to have a chance in the East this year.

Still, I really like this starting five. Cunningham is already an All-NBA No. 1 option, Duren just became an All-Star, Thompson is an All-Defensive monster, Robinson is a 41.0% three-point shooter, and Collins gives them a bigger frontcourt body who hit 40.6% from deep. The lineup has size, defense, rebounding, and enough shooting around the two non-shooters. My concern is that Cunningham remains the only guy here who can consistently create his own shot against playoff defenses, and that becomes more important later.

Point Guard: Daniss Jenkins, Ebuka Okorie

Shooting Guard: Kevin Huerter, Isaiah Joe

Small Forward: Ron Holland, Gary Harris

Power Forward: Javonte Green, Taurean Prince

Center: Paul Reed, Tolu Smith

This bench might actually be deeper than the starting lineup makes people realize, and Daniss Jenkins is a good place to start. He played 72 games last season, started 19, and finished at 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists while shooting 40.8% from the field and 37.4% from three. That’s a pretty strong second point guard for a contender, especially because he already knows Bickerstaff’s system and can play with or without Cunningham.

The interesting part is that Jenkins finally has real competition behind him. Ebuka Okorie was one of the most productive freshmen in college basketball, putting up 23.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.6 steals at Stanford while shooting 46.5% from the field, 35.4% from three, and 83.2% from the line. A 19-year-old rookie probably shouldn’t be trusted to run a contender immediately, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he forces his way into the rotation at some point.

Kevin Huerter is another player who doesn’t need to be amazing to help this group. Across the full 2025-26 season, he finished with 10.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 45.1% from the field, although his three-point percentage fell to 30.8%. His Detroit sample after the deadline trade (the Jaden Ivey one) wasn’t huge, but the Pistons still gave him three years and $27.0 million, so they clearly believe the shooting will move back toward his 36.8% career mark.

Even if Huerter has another uneven shooting season, Isaiah Joe gives Bickerstaff a much safer option. Joe put up 11.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in only 21.2 minutes per game last season while shooting 45.5% from the field and 42.3% from three. He’s now at 40.6% from deep for his career and already has championship experience from the Thunder’s 2025 title.

Ron Holland remains the biggest X-Factor on the bench. He played 78 games as a 20-year-old and finished with 8.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists, but the percentages still tell you why he hasn’t pushed into a bigger role yet. Holland shot 43.2% from the field and 25.3% from three, bringing his career three-point mark to 24.6%.

There are already enough non-shooters in Detroit’s main lineups, so Holland eventually has to become at least respectable from outside. The good part is that nobody needs him to start right now. Thompson has the defensive wing role, Robinson brings shooting, and Collins takes the starting power forward spot, which lets Holland play 18 to 22 minutes, defend, rebound, run in transition, and develop without Detroit pretending he’s ready to be a major offensive option.

Javonte Green was much more involved last year and should remain one of Bickerstaff’s go-to bench options. He appeared in all 82 games, scored 6.9 points with 2.8 rebounds, and shot 38.1% from three. He also produced 4.7 win shares in only 17.6 minutes per game, which is pretty nice production for somebody who almost never needs the ball.

Then we look at the end-of-the-bench vets: Gary Harris acts as veteran insurance at 32 years old, averaging just 2.7 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 48 games but still hitting 41.2% from three. Taurean Prince adds another weapon at the same spot, delivering 9.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 45.0% shooting (43.6% from deep) across an injury-shortened 26 games. Between Prince, Green, Joe, Huerter, and Robinson, Detroit has endless lineup combinations to surround Cade with three or four pure shooters, a tactical luxury they will surely exploit whenever the starting unit gets too cramped.

Then we go to the center rotation, where there are definitely more questions. Paul Reed was highly productive in limited minutes last year, giving Detroit 7.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists while shooting 61.7% from the field in just 13.9 minutes per game. He even earned trust to close out games and start in the playoffs due to Duren’s terrible performance, proving he can easily handle the backup big man role.

Further down the bench is Tolu Smith, who played in only 15 games last season, putting up 3.7 points and 3.3 rebounds on 50.0% shooting. The biggest concern here is replacing Isaiah Stewart; he averaged 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in 58 games last year and finished seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting, meaning Reed and Smith have a massive defensive standard to live up to.

Overall, this bench is looking very solid. You’ve got Jenkins running the second unit, Joe acting as one of the best pure snipers in the league, and Holland still bringing tons of upside at just 21. Plus, Huerter has been a proven rotation piece for eight years, Green is an absolute ironman, and Reed already knows the system inside out. Honestly, with this much depth, Okorie doesn’t even need to be good right away for this unit to cause serious trouble for opposing benches.

The first strength is pretty obvious because Detroit already proved it over 82 games: this defense can be nasty. The Pistons finished second in defensive rating at 109.7, and led the entire league with 10.4 steals per game, plus 6.4 blocks per game, also No. 1.

Losing Stewart hurts that advantage a little, because he was their best shot blocker, but the rest of the defensive foundation remains. Thompson might already be the best perimeter defender in the East, Cunningham is 6-foot-6 rather than some small point guard teams can hunt, and Duren’s physical tools are ridiculous. If Detroit drops from second to fifth or sixth defensively, that’s still enough to win a lot of games.

Their second strength is the amount of extra possessions they create. Detroit averaged 45.6 rebounds per game last season, eighth in the NBA, and was third with 13.1 offensive rebounds per game. Duren alone grabbed 3.8 offensive boards per game, while Thompson is one of those wings who can suddenly finish a night with nine rebounds without anybody noticing.

Now add Collins, who averages 7.7 rebounds for his career, and keep Reed behind Duren. That frontcourt isn’t going to get pushed around very often. It’s also important because Detroit wasn’t a great shooting team last year, finishing only 17th at 35.6% from three. If you’re going to miss more shots than the elite shooting teams, getting the extra offensive boards every night is one way to survive it.

And that leads into another thing I really like about the new roster: the shooting depth is way better than the team percentage makes it look. Detroit hit 35.6% from three last season, yet Robinson shot 41.0%, Joe shot 42.3% for the Thunder, Collins hit 40.6% for the Clippers, Prince hit 43.6%, Green finished at 38.1%, and Jenkins was at 37.4%. There’s enough shooting now to build second units where almost everybody around Cunningham or Duren can stretch the floor.

My biggest issue hasn’t changed from the playoffs: there still isn’t another proven high-level creator next to Cade. He finished the regular season at 9.9 assists per game, while Jenkins was next at only 3.9, Thompson had 3.1, and Duren had 2.0. There’s a lot of shooting around Cade, but there isn’t another guy where I look at the roster and say, “Give him the ball for six straight possessions and let him run the show.”

That became a bigger problem in the playoffs when Cunningham jumped all the way to 28.1 points per game, turning it over 5.6 times per night while carrying a 31.5% usage rate. Detroit averaged only 104.9 points across its 14 playoff games after scoring 117.8 per game in the regular season, and the team finished the postseason shooting only 44.8% from the field. That’s a huge offensive drop once teams had time to prepare for them.

Okorie could eventually help here because he scored 23.2 points at Stanford and already has a pretty advanced offensive game for a 19-year-old, but I wouldn’t build a 2027 playoff run around a rookie becoming Cade’s No. 2 creator. Jenkins is a good backup, Huerter and Joe are shooters, Thompson isn’t a scorer, and it all comes back to Cunningham needing to be healthy and brilliant almost every night.

The other issue is the spacing in the actual starting five. Robinson and Collins help a ton, but Thompson shot 25.0% from three last season, Duren didn’t attempt one, and Cunningham was only at 34.2%. If Collins falls back toward his 36.9% career percentage rather than repeating 40.6%, suddenly Robinson becomes the only starter defenses are scared to leave outside.

The Pistons were 10th in offensive rating at 117.9 last year while dealing with similar spacing, and Cunningham-Duren actions are difficult to defend, but teams can’t pack the paint every possession. I do think this becomes much easier to stop in May than in January, especially once good defenses start daring Ausar or Duren to make shots away from the paint.

And Duren himself has to answer the playoff question now. There isn’t any way around it after signing for $200.0 million. He went from 19.5 points on 65.0% shooting in the regular season to 10.2 points on 51.4% in the postseason, his rebounds dropped from 10.5 to 8.5, and Detroit was outscored by six points across his 422 playoff minutes.

I don’t need him averaging 20 in every playoff series, because Cunningham will always take more shots once the games get serious, but cutting his scoring almost in half can’t happen again. Detroit paid him like a major part of its championship core. This season is where Duren has to show the regular-season jump wasn’t just a one-off.

The final weakness is backup size after Stewart’s trade. Reed is productive, but he’s 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, while Smith has 16 NBA games in his career. Collins can play some small-ball center, but Detroit spent last season with Duren and Stewart combining for 2.4 blocks per game, and Stewart could take tougher defensive matchups Duren couldn’t deal with. That’s gone now.

I would say they are, but with the East being so stacked right now, the window isn’t as open as last season. I don’t think they’ll win 60 games again because 60 is a crazy number to repeat, and Detroit benefited from having one of the league’s best regular-season defenses from October through April. A slight defensive regression plus a stronger East could easily turn 60 wins into 50 without the team actually getting worse.

What I like is that Langdon understood what needed to change without touching the main core. Cunningham, Duren, and Thompson are still 24, 22, and 23 years old, so this isn’t an aging contender trying to squeeze out one last run. Robinson is back after shooting 41.0% from three, Collins replaces Harris with more efficiency and better outside shooting, Joe gives them another elite shooter, and Okorie is another first-round guard they can develop behind Cunningham.

There are things I would’ve liked to see added. A second true scorer would make me feel much better about their playoff offense, and trading Stewart leaves the frontcourt slightly thinner defensively. The starting spacing still isn’t perfect either because Thompson and Duren basically force Detroit to play with two non-shooters.

Still, this was a 60-22 team with a +8.2 net rating, the No. 2 defense, the No. 1 steal rate, and the most blocks in the league. That’s not a fake regular-season team. Detroit was genuinely one of the best teams in basketball for six months, then went 7-7 in the playoffs while Cunningham averaged 28.1 points and Duren played nowhere near his regular-season level.

For me, another top seed feels right, even if they’re not No.1 again. I wouldn’t pick them to win the East, but I absolutely think reaching the Eastern Conference Finals should be the expectation now rather than some dream scenario. Last year was the season where the Pistons proved they were back, so this one has to be the season where they prove 60 wins weren’t the peak.