Not too long ago, the Detroit Pistons were looked down upon by the rest of the NBA. Cade Cunningham saw his team win just 54 combined games over his first three seasons in the league, and this organization was nowhere close to being a threat in the East.
Even other teams were making fun of the Pistons, with Kyle Kuzma famously stating nobody wants to “be that team” after the Pistons lost their 28th straight game during the 2023-24 season, tied for the longest losing streak in NBA history. That was rock bottom for this organization, but times have changed significantly.
Now in his fifth season, Cunningham has elevated the Pistons to new heights, and this team is currently on pace to not only surpass that 54-win mark over the young star's first three years in the NBA but also win at least 60 games for just the third time in franchise history.
The Pistons made it to the Eastern Conference Finals both times they won at least 60 games in a season, the most recent being 20 years ago in 2006. Although Detroit came up just short of reaching the NBA Finals that season, they did, however, win a championship during the 1988-89 season, a season they went 63-19 overall.
This season, the Pistons are following in the footsteps of their past, as they currently hold a firm grip on the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings and have earned the right to call themselves the team to beat en route to the NBA Finals when the playoffs begin.
Although there is still plenty of basketball yet to be played and many factors could alter not just the standings but every team's chances of capturing a championship, there has been one constant with this Pistons team all season that is only growing and getting stronger.
When it comes to playing the best of the best, the Pistons have cemented themselves as the best in the NBA.
Pistons are dominating elite teams
There is always more than meets the eye when it comes to a team's record. Oftentimes, fans will only look at wins and losses to determine how good certain organizations are over the course of the year, and while this can obviously hold some weight, diving deeper into what each win or each loss means and to whom paints a clear picture as to which teams are and are not championship contenders.
Well, the Pistons are clearly title-contending threats this season, and it's not just because they have won over 75 percent of their games this season and reside at the top of the East standings. It's also not because of their recent wins over the New York Knicks or San Antonio Spurs, either.
When you actually dive into the numbers and break down each of the Pistons' wins this season, it's clear to see that they have taken the fight to the best teams in the NBA and have found success against each and every one of them.
The Pistons have gone 19-7 against teams with a winning record this season, the best record against .500-plus teams in the NBA. For context, the Oklahoma City Thunder are 19-11 overall, and the Spurs are 21-11 against teams above-.500 this year.
In fact, Detroit has wins over seven of the other top 10 teams in the NBA to this point in the year. The only teams inside the top 10 that the Pistons have yet to beat are the Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves, whom Detroit has yet to face.
In terms of the Spurs, Victor Wembanyama and his crew recently picked up a hard-fought 114-103 win in Detroit, proving that they, too, are like the Pistons and could potentially see them down the road in June with everything on the line. Before even thinking about this, these two teams will meet again in San Antonio on March 5 in a highly anticipated showdown.
As far as the Pistons' record goes, winning 73 percent of their games against teams with a winning record speaks volumes. After all, it's not like they are just beating up on the worst teams in the league.
This young team has been challenged and tested, yet they've passed virtually every roadblock thrown at them throughout the 2025-26 season. The Pistons are a resilient group that understands what it takes to overcome adversity, and most importantly, they embrace each trial and tribulation that comes their way.
Aside from losing back-to-back games only twice this entire year, the Pistons always look forward to marquee matchups, as they have on their schedule right now. After games against the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Pistons now look forward to two games against Cleveland, a tough road game against Orlando, and then a final regular-season matchup in San Antonio.
While their first game against the Spurs may not have gone the way Cunningham and the Pistons had hoped, this team is ready to embrace the adversity and overcome it.
“We have a week full of smoke,” Cunningham said after Monday's loss to the Spurs, via the Detroit Free Press. “It’s great. We get to see where we’re at, see where the league’s at, learn a lot in these three games, five games, even the last few games we’ve played have all been good challenges for us. It’s a lot to learn from all these games. I think we’ll come out of all this better and more prepared for the playoffs and everything.
“It’s good, it’s healthy for us.”
Being a championship-contending team doesn't just mean you have one of the best records in your conference or the league at large. A team is defined by the quality of its wins, and the Pistons have clearly proven they have what it takes to beat the best of the best.
Fool them once, but not twice
Aside from all their wins against the top teams in the league and continued success bouncing back from their few losses, the Pistons have something unique about them this season.
Only one team in the league has defeated the Pistons twice this season, and it's a team they won't see again until the 2026-27 season, as they face them twice a year. The LA Clippers defeated Detroit both at home and away this year, holding the Pistons under 100 points in both outings.
It is worth noting that the Pistons were without Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, and virtually all of their veteran contributors in the second meeting between these teams on Jan. 10, a game Detroit lost 98-92.
No other team in the league can say that they haven't lost at least two games to multiple opponents this year, which is another reason why the Pistons are so unique. What all of this comes down to is that JB Bickerstaff has a young, hungry team that has grown together over the last few years, and they are finally putting the puzzle pieces to success together.
Regardless of what is on their schedule, the Pistons play every game like it's Game 1 of a playoff series, which is why this chip on their shoulders will only translate to success down the line.
“Our guys respect everybody and want to give everybody their best shot,” Bickerstaff said recently. “No matter who the opponent is, our guys always look forward to those challenges.”
Cade Cunningham's MVP-like season
A team's record matters. Their success against some of the other great teams in the league matters. But at the end of the day, every championship organization always has one player they can point to as being the guy.
For the Pistons, that guy is Cade Cunningham, and he has taken a massive step in his career to become one of the best guards in basketball. To be honest, saying only this doesn't give Cunningham enough credit, as he's become one of the best players in the entire NBA, which is why he is right at the top of the MVP rankings right now with Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and others.
At this rate, it's not hard to believe that Cunningham could surpass these other stars and end up winning the 2025-26 NBA MVP award.
Believe it or not, the Pistons technically own the best record in the league with a 75.4 win percentage, and Cunningham's MVP resume will only grow should this hold true and Detroit remain at the top of the standings.
As far as his production goes, Cunningham's numbers and his impact on winning speak for themselves.
Cunningham has recorded four straight double-doubles dating back to his 42-point, 13-assist night in the Pistons' 126-111 beatdown of the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. After this particular performance, Bickerstaff made it clear that his star deserves more respect from everyone in the MVP race.
“I don't think you pick an MVP based on just one game or one statement. He's been this way for the entire season,” Bickerstaff said. “He's dominated both ends of the floor and impacted winning in a major way.
“Credit to him, credit to his work, credit to his conditioning, his will to want to win, his ability to be a great teammate and lead. That's who he has been all season.”
The Pistons have defeated the best of the best, and the scary thing for every other team in the league is that Detroit is better now than they were in the first game of the season.
By the time the playoffs begin, the Pistons will be ready for the challenges ahead of them, and if any team in the East has the best chance to win 12 playoff games in order to reach the NBA Finals, it's this Pistons team.
