3 players who will receive an elevated role for the Detroit Pistons in 2020

The first-round draft pick

Along with concerns over when the season will resume come the questions surrounding the NBA Draft. When will it be held? Will they do a virtual draft as the NFL and WNBA did? Whatever the case ends up being, Detroit’s pick is huge.

They’re currently sitting on the fifth-best odds to land the number one overall pick. What players will end up on which teams has been harder to predict this season than it has in the past.

The uncertainty surrounding so many of the prospects means fewer teams feel they’re the right pick. The order in which players are selected is so heavily contingent on what the actual draft order ends up being. There’s no consensus number one overall pick this year.

So wherever the Pistons end up making their pick, whether it’s the top pick, fifth, sixth, seventh, it doesn’t matter.

Whoever that player is (and it will presumably be a point guard) will be asked on day one to make this team their own. They’ll likely be asked to be a primary ball-handler, scorer, and facilitator.

The margin for error on this pick is pretty small. Detroit hasn’t had a chance at landing a player that could transcend their franchise in quite some time, and while there’s a chance that only a handful of these players can actually do that, the Pistons need to hit a home run.

Maximizing the potential of the younger players surrounding him will be paramount, as well as whatever’s left of Griffin’s prime years.

Whether it’s LaMelo Ball, Killian Hayes, Obi Toppin, Tyrese Haliburton, or any number of other potential prospects, the expectations for them will be massive.