At this point in 2024, the season was all but over for the Detroit Pistons.
Rewinding 365 days, Detroit dropped to 3-36 following a 112-110 setback against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 12, 2024.
Two weeks earlier, the Pistons had fallen to the Boston Celtics for their 28th straight loss—a run of despair that no team in NBA history had ever experienced in a single season. The Philadelphia 76ers went through a 28-game skid of their own, but that rut began at the end of the 2014-15 campaign and spilled over into 2015-16.
What a difference 365 days has made for Detroit, though.
Thirty-nine games into this season, and the Pistons are just above .500 at 20-19 thanks to a 123-114 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night.
Tim Hardaway Jr. nailed 7 of 8 3-point attempts against Toronto on the way to a game-high 27 points, while Cade Cunningham poured in 22 points to complement 10 boards and 17 assists for his seventh—yes, seventh—triple-double of the season.
Seeing the Pistons succeed like this shouldn’t be a surprise.
Yes, last season was straight out of a horror movie for anyone who had the stones to support basketball in the Motor City, but Cunningham was bound to emerge as a legit star at some point, and his supporting cast is honestly phenomenal.
Jalen Duren is a solid option down low, Tobias Harris and Hardaway always have the potential to change games with their stat lines or veteran leadership and how about Malik Beasley? What in the world got into him? For those not in the loop, the guy is averaging 16.3 points per game and knocking down 39.6 percent of his threes while primarily coming off the bench.
And we haven’t even mentioned Jaden Ivey, who hasn’t played since Jan. 1 due to a fractured fibula but was putting up 17.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game before going down.
Even without Ivey for a good chunk of the new year, the Pistons have been on a roll, winning nine of their past 11 games.
Simply landing a spot in the play-in tournament was originally the ceiling for Detroit this season. However, expectations should be much, much higher for the Pistons’ front office now. This team could very well have what it takes to win a playoff series. Dare I say, maybe even two?
What happens at the trade deadline on Feb. 6 will likely determine just how far Detroit goes this season. Should the Pistons stand pat, they probably won’t have to worry about playing basketball deep into the spring, but if they can go out and add a few pieces, who knows what could happen.
Maybe a trip to the play-in is all Detroit gets. Perhaps the Pistons’ season ends in the first round of the playoffs. Or the second. Detroit wins regardless. This season has already been a massive step in the right direction, and it’s hard to imagine that the Pistons are even close to being done.
