Detroit Pistons: There are a crazy number of former Pistons in the playoffs

The Detroit Pistons were nowhere near the NBA Playoffs this season, but plenty of their former players are making an impact across the league.

The Pistons have made a habit of either trading or passing on players who ended up having success on other teams, as happened with Khris Middleton and Spencer Dinwiddie, but most of these players fall into the category of “veterans chasing rings” or “veterans chasing paychecks.”

But a surprising number of former Detroit Pistons are still in the playoffs and a couple of them could end up being big factors.

How many former Detroit Pistons are in the NBA Playoffs?

There are 20 former Pistons still in the playoffs right now, which seems like a very high number for a team that hasn’t been there themselves much over the last decade.

Here is a list, thanks for @sean_corp for posting this on Twitter:

Of those 20 players, Derrick Rose, Tobias Harris and Middleton are the biggest contributors, as they are all important parts of the starting lineup or the bench in the case of Rose, who scored 26 in the Knicks’ recent win over the Hawks.

Bruce Brown has played well for the Nets, as has Blake Griffin and even though I can’t bring myself to cheer for a superteam, I am happy for those guys to get rings if they do.

Andre Drummond finally got his first career playoff win when the Lakers beat the Suns, which is crazy considering he’s in his 9th season.

Luke Kennard has to be one of the strangest entries, as the Clippers paid him big bucks for shooting off their bench and he has yet to leave it in their two playoff games. I feel a bit sorry for Kennard, but I am still happy the way things turned out, as the Detroit Pistons were finally on the right side of a deal when they sent Kennard and a bunch of 2nd-round picks to the Clippers in a 3-team trade for Saddiq Bey.

KCP, Reggie Bullock, Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith are still playing valuable roles on their respective playoff teams and KCP will be looking for his second ring with the Lakers.

Tony Snell had a season for the record books, recording the first 50/50/100 season in NBA history (50 percent FG, 3-pointers and 100 percent free throws), though he did it on low volume and still wasn’t very good, which shows how misleading stats can be out of context.

It’s sad that none of these guys had any playoff success with the Detroit Pistons, but I wish them well and hope that soon we’ll be talking about current Pistons in the playoffs.