DETROIT, MI - MAY 17: Cade Cunningham #2 of the Detroit Pistons talks to the media after the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers during Round Two Game Seven of the 2026 NBA Playoffs on May 17, 2026 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agr ees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images It’s been one week since LeBron James made The Decision, Episode IV, announcing he would be taking his talents to the City of Brotherly Love by signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. The old me — a simple man conditioned to look at the NBA one way and the bad-to-terrible Pistons another — would be jazzed for news like this. I love counterculture, moves that stray from the expected and represent something fresh and new. LeBron with the Cavs for one last ride? Booooooring. LeBron back in Miami? Better, but still boring. It was the Warriors with Steph Curry or the Timberwolves with Anthony Edwards that struck me as the most interesting destinations. The 76ers felt like a longshot, a crazy/weird/fun outcome that would never happen. Until it did. The thing about the old days is that none of those blockbuster moves mattered in relation to the Pistons. The last Earth-shaking move that impacted the Pistons was the Celtics building the Original Big 3 with Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Everything since then has had zero impact on Detroit, since Detroit had zero impact on the NBA for so long. Well, that’s not the case anymore. The Pistons are coming off a 60-win season and were a game away from their first conference finals since they lost to those Celtics in 2008. With the additions of Jaylen Brown and LeBron, the 76ers are one of many teams in the Eastern Conference that pushed their chips to the middle of the table. Depending on your POV, Detroit should have been one of those teams too. I was very open in wanting that big move. Instead, they reportedly swung and missed on several stars and shifted focus to making the roster fit better around Cade Cunningham. They didn’t bring back the band, but they spun their own version of mid-80s Van Halen, replacing David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar. — Admittedly, I don’t think the 76ers are going to win the title this year. Is that a hot take? I don’t think so. Taking a ton of high-usage stars as they’re doing and trying to mash them together is going to take a season to iron out. LeBron will fit flawlessly, because that’s just how he is, but Joel Embiid is a black hole. For several reasons, his health at the top of the list, I’m not convinced he’s a player you can win with as a pillar. I’m interested to see how he adjusts and stays on the floor. Brown, too, wanted a bigger role in his departure from the Celtics. Now, he’s gone from presumed co-star to third- or maybe even fourth-wheel. I’m more interested in seeing how that dynamic unfolds — and how much shade he throws at teammates and coaches during late-night Twitch streams — as the season plays out. I think Philly’s year is next year. Maybe LeBron agrees. After all, he did sign a two-year deal. It took two years in Miami, Cleveland and Los Angeles to get to the mountaintop. He knows how this goes. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the East is now a Beast. The Knicks are the champs, No. 1 in my book until proven otherwise. The Cavs struck out on LeBron and the Celtics swapped Brown for the remnants of Paul George, but both remain formidable. The Heat and Raptors are rising with additions of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard. The Pacers are in a similar spot with the return of Tyrese Haliburton. Even the Hawks, who I was bullish on going into the playoffs but cooled on this summer, are better. Hell, the Magic didn’t really improve, but I also don’t think they can be worse. The ultimate wildcard in all of this is the Wizards. With No. 1 pick A.J. Dybantsa flanked by fading stars Anthony Davis and Trae Young, they could grab the sixth seed or miss the play-in tournament entirely. The point is, the East is different. It might be the deepest it’s ever been. — The Pistons are still good, but their offseason moves don’t seem like ones that will elevate their ceiling. Rather, it feels like they’ve raised their floor. They didn’t build the addition; they renovated the house. Let’s ignore the Jalen Duren Situation, because I’m just so god damn tired of it, and pretend he’s back. The Pistons are betting on another jump from Duren and Ausar Thompson. If those two improve — and I’m extremely confident both, specifically Ausar, will — that raises the ceiling. If someone like Ron Holland finally emerges and graduates from Hustle Man to Bonafide Playoff Guy, then you’re really cooking with oil when you factor in the added shooting of John Collins and Isaiah Joe. The problem is the Pistons have a lot of ifs. The entire premise of making a leap and winning the East is predicated on a convoluted series of “if this, then that” statements. They’re banking on internal development while the rest of the East bet on external additions. It’s the same path Oklahoma City took when they lost to the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals in 2024. The difference is the Thunder saw their deficiencies — needing more shooting + perimeter defense — and addressed them by trading Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso. The deal worked out for both sides. OKC got the role player they coveted, and it lifted them to a title. The Bulls still sink, but they’ve gotten two extremely productive seasons out of Giddey — who is shooting it better and averaging damn near a triple-double. — Building a title contender is not linear. There is no road map. The Pistons appear done making moves for now, but the real test for Trajan Langdon and the front office comes in February, when they’ve seen 40+ games from this roster and can measure it against the rest of the East. Every season, conferences shift in ways we don’t expect. Someone will have an Orlando-like collapse. Another will make a Pistons-like leap and emerge out of nowhere. Father Time will finally clip someone else. By the trade deadline, Langdon won’t just know how the core has developed — he’ll know exactly where it stands relative to his peers. If this same roster — flaws and all — is the group heading into the playoffs in April, then it’s time to rethink how we view Langdon’s patient approach. Until then, I’m willing to let it play out. ...read more read less