Big changes may be coming in Detroit

No matter what happens in the Detroit Pistons season finale against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday afternoon, this particular squad has the dubious distinction of finishing with the worst record in Pistons franchise history. In a strange way, it’s actually fitting that this is the position the Pistons find themselves in, because after Game 82 against the Spurs, the worst five year stretch in the history of the Detroit Pistons will be completed. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that on the eve of the season’s final game, Pistons owner Tom Gores is considering making major changes to their front office ahead of the 2024-25 season.

“Team and league sources told The Athletic that Gores is considering hiring a president of basketball operations to have the final say on all basketball matters,” according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “The Pistons haven’t had someone in that exact role since 2018.”

It can’t be a coincidence that after the Pistons erased that role entirely in 2018, they’ve since gone six seasons without finishing with a winning record, and even worse, they’re seemingly going the wrong way. The Pistons have gone from winning 23 games during the 2021-22 season, to 17 in 2022-23, to either 14 or 15 this year depending on what happens in San Antonio. It’s not just that the Pistons will finish this season with their lowest win total in 76 years of existence… it’s how they got there.

A brutal and embarrassing 28-game losing streak early in the season shined a light on the fact that despite multiple years in a row picking in the lottery and employing the highest paid coach in the NBA in Monty Williams, this is an organization that can easily and fairly be referred to as “rudderless.” There’s clearly a disconnect somewhere, and the Pistons number one objective in the offseason should and will be to find some organizational stability.

“The ultimate goal for the Pistons, per team and league sources, is to have total synergy from the top down, making the situation fluid in the event Gores does decide to hire a new head decision-maker,” writes Edwards.

The Pistons will likely hire a President of Basketball Operations, and after that, this individual will be tasked with overseeing what will be a crucial offseason in Detroit — the Pistons will be picking in the lottery yet again, and they’ll have north of $70 million in cap space to work with. That’s theoretically the start of what could be a successful rebuild.

For half a decade, the Detroit Pistons have been the worst franchise in the NBA, but this is a once proud and powerful team that has one three NBA Titles and had a stretch of six consecutive seasons making at least the Eastern Conference Finals from 2003 to 2008. It would be great for the city of Detroit, and for the NBA, if the Pistons could right the ship and make Detroit Basketball a thing again.