It has been nearly two decades since the Detroit Pistons entered a season with the expectations they have now.
After 60 wins, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and a second-round playoff exit, the rest of the league – and NBA world as a whole – is paying attention.
Or are they?
“I still feel like we’re a little slept on, man,” Pistons All-NBA guard Cade Cunningham said at the team’s practice facility in Midtown on Thursday, Oct. 15. “I still feel like people don’t really give us the credit that maybe we’ve earned. But again, that’s the beauty of it and that’s part of being in Detroit and part of being on a team that’s young and people don’t expect much, versus other teams that have bigger names or whatever you want to call it. We don’t really worry
too much about that stuff. Just have to go out at the highest level and represent.”
The Pistons are getting more respect, as evidenced by their regular-season opener against the Boston Celtics next Tuesday. It’s a nationally televised game at home on NBC with a 3 p.m. tipoff at Little Caesars Arena, making it the first game on the NBA calendar.
It has been a long time since the Pistons have been good or interesting enough to fill such a timeslot.
Yet, pundits are skeptical of their chances to lead the East once again, or even clinch a top-four record and homecourt advantage in the first round. The annual NBA general manager survey, released on Thursday on NBA.com, pegged the Pistons as the fifth-best team in the conference. Out of 30 GMs, one voted the Pistons to finish first overall again, and five voted them fourth.
“I think it just keeps us on edge,” Cunningham said. “The East has gotten better, the league has gotten better. It’s a new year and everybody’s back to 0-0. It’s still about starting off strong and finding our footing through the year. I think we’ll get better as the year goes on.”
As Cunningham suggested, the team’s lack of a big move this offseason is fueling the skepticism. Several of their peers in the East made headline-grabbing trades in pursuit of a championship. The Pistons added shooting but largely are sticking to the script that has worked the past two seasons, and allowing internal development, mainly from Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, to dictate their success.
Their 128-106 road preseason win Wednesday over the Minnesota Timberwolves highlighted why the Pistons are bullish on the trio. It was their first preseason game with all three players in the starting lineup, as it was Duren’s exhibition debut after signing a $200 million contract.
And he played like he had something to prove, finishing with 24 points (8-for-9 overall, 8-for-8 at the foul line) three rebounds, two steals and a block in just 15 minutes.
Duren’s ascent to third-team All-NBA last season was a crucial reason the Pistons exceeded expectations and made a 16-win improvement over the previous season. If Wednesday’s performance is a sign, the 22-year-old isn’t done growing yet. T'wolves center Rudy Gobert, who earned first-team All-Defense in 2025-26, couldn’t handle Duren's perimeter speed, and second-year big man Joan Beringer couldn’t match Duren's strength and aggression.
“I thought it was amazing,” Cunningham said. “Good to see him back out there having fun with the group. He played great, had great aggression. Looked sharp. I think he’ll have a good year.”
It was a quieter offensive performance for Thompson, who made his lone shot attempt of the night – an early transition alley-oop from Duren. But Thompson showed off his skill as a playmaker with four assists, and his growth with the ball will help determine how much better the Pistons can be offensively this season. The ball will be in his hands more, as well as Duren’s hands.
The Pistons want Thompson, 23, to be more aggressive. In the first two preseason games, he looked for his own shot more often, and knocked down a handful of jumpers from midrange. That, in addition to his vision, might set him up for his most impactful two-way season yet.
Growth from teammates will only help Cunningham, 25. The Pistons are finding ways to simplify his workload and find him easier shot attempts in the flow of the offense – cuts, catch-and-shoots, mismatches against bigger or smaller defenders. Cunningham got a taste of it on Wednesday, which he finished with 14 points and nine assists.
“Easier shots, you’ll be more efficient that way,“ Cunningham said. “AT is somebody that can pass the ball at a super high level, can handle the ball. It’s just natural for us to use him more in that light, and allow him to explore more of that. He hasn’t had enough of that in his time with us. It only makes my life easier and it adds more to his game that people have to respect and guard him a little bit differently.“
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Cade Cunningham believes Detroit Pistons are 'a little slept-on'
