The Detroit Pistons overcame a 19-point deficit and opened their preseason slate with a gutsy home win – capped by a winning shot from their top rookie.
Ebuka Okorie – drafted 17th overall in June and made his preseason debut with 10:05 remaining Monday, Oct. 5 – hit the winning layup with 5.8 seconds to go. Then, on the other end, he defended a 3-point attempt by Jamar's Bouyea and forced a miss.
The Pistons leaned on Okorie's heroics late, and used a 35-10 run in the second half, to defeat the Phoenix Suns, 109-107, at Little Caesars Arena. The bench led the way, as both teams opted to rest their core players in the second half. Ron Holland scored 14 points to lead the Pistons and four starters – Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, John Collins
and Paul Reed – each scored 10.
Newly signed big Jalen Duren was a healthy scratch, as the Pistons continue to acclimate him following his contract standoff. Michigander Devin Booker, who sat out of the second half, led Phoenix with 13 points. Cunningham and DuncanRobinson each played zero minutes in the second half.
After trailing, 79-60, at the 8:52 mark of the third quarter, the Pistons closed the period with a 24-5 stretch capped by a contested 3-pointer by Daniss Jenkins to tie the game at 84. They won the third quarter, 34-16, after trailing 68-50 at halftime, and a 3-pointer by Javonte Green extended their lead to 95-89 with 8:12 to play in the final period.
The Pistons shot 37.2% in the first half while allowing Phoenix to shoot 54.5%. Their defensive intensity improved in the second half, limiting the Suns to 41.2% while shooting 54.3%.
Jalen Duren sits, Paul Reed starts
Duren wasn’t quite ready for the Pistons’ preseason opener just four days after inking his five-year, $200 million contract. The big was present for the team’s morning shootaround, but the team is still working him back into the fold. He took his physical on Friday and was absent during the team’s open practice at Wayne State Fieldhouse on Saturday.
During the game, he was on the bench supporting his teammates.
"We're going to take our time," coach J.B. Bickerstaff said during his pregame press conference Monday evening. "We've got a plan organizationally from the front office, coaches, performance, medical staff, we've put a plan in place to ramp him up so by Oct. 20, the first game, he's ready to go and ready to go full speed.
“We're going to take our time and be patient with him but the expectation is he came in in great shape, so we just want to continue to build on that and get our hands on him a little bit."
Paul Reed drew the start at center, instead, and new addition John Collins initially slid up to center when Reed sat midway through the first. Tolu Smith made his debut late in the second quarter. They missed Duren’s presence, though – the Suns built an early 6-3 lead on the offensive glass and had a 13-2 advantage in second-chance points by the end of the opening period. At halftime, the Pistons trailed 26-18 in rebounds.
Ausar Thompson handles ball, hits jumpers
After inking Thompson to a five-year, $155 million extension last month, the Pistons are expanding his role. The ball will be in his hands more, and he’ll likely top his career-high average of 26 minutes per game set last season.
From the opening tipoff, Thompson split ball-handling responsibilities with Cunningham and found Collins with a one-handed lob for an alley-oop early in the first quarter. Thompson started at point guard in the second half after the coaching staff shut down Cunningham.
The most eye-popping part of Thompson’s performance was his shooting, though. He knocked down three midrange jumpers and looked more comfortable taking shots when given space. His third jumper followed a chasedown swat on a fastbreak layup attempt by Jordan Goodwin, and the sequence helped sparked the Pistons' 24-5 run to close the period.
John Collins debuts as starting power forward
It initially was a slow start for the Pistons’ new starting power forward. Collins picked up his fourth foul with 9:40 remaining in the second quarter and was forced to sit out of the remainder of the half. But he also had his first memorable moment in a Pistons jersey – an early dust-up with Dillon Brooks that resulted in double technical fouls and a flagrant on Collins.
John Collins grabs Dillon Brooks by the throat. 😳 pic.twitter.com/ES4M4UCL3x
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 5, 2026
With 7:23 to play in the first quarter, Collins took exception to a series of shoves by Brooks while trying to box him out. Collins briefly grabbed Brooks around his throat before pushing the Suns’ wing away, and they had to be separated by teammates and coaches. Collins ended up being whistled for a flagrant-1 after a review.
Otherwise, the 6-foot-9 forward had his moments. He finished a back-to-basket lob from Thompson, grabbed three offensive rebounds and provided a presence in the paint on a night the Pistons needed someone to step up with Duren absent.
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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: Ausar Thompson, Ebuka Okorie show fire in Pistons preseason opener
