Detroit Pistons: Using All-Star stats to project Saddiq Bey’s 2026 season

Saddiq Bey has had a remarkable and record-setting rookie year for the Detroit Pistons. He has given the city of Detroit reason to be excited for the future of Detroit Basketball, which no player has done in years.

He is the consensus number four player from his draft class and has been compared to Jimmy Butler, Tayshaun Prince, and Metta Sandiford-Artest. All of those players are having or have had illustrious careers, and all of them have or should have made All-Star teams. I believe Saddiq Bey will make an All-Star game in the near future, and be a legitimate superstar, so I used the progression of this season’s All-Stars to build a ceiling for him to hit in the next five years.

In order to do so, I took the actual number that each major individual statistical category has gone up (or down) for the average 2021 All-Star starter during the first five years of their career and applied that growth to Bey’s rookie stats. The categories that will be looked at are points per game, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, and shooting percentages from inside and outside the arc. I will use the same reasonings to take a guess at Saddiq Bey’s minutes per game but depending on the talent around him during the 2026 season, the number could be way off.

Detroit Pistons: Comparing Saddiq Bey to All-Star talent

The players used will be 2021 All-Stars who have been in the league for at least five seasons and were named to the starting lineup, so players who were voted in but were injured will not count, but the reserves will. Obviously, this projection is the best-case scenario, and many of the numbers may be higher than they will be in reality. Seven players were used: LeBron James, Bradley Beal, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, and Nikola Jokic. If Bey ends up being anywhere near the level of those guys, the Detroit Pistons will be in good shape.

Almost all of the statistical categories showed vast improvement, with the three-point percentage being the only one that went down, probably due to increased usage by the players. On average, each All-Star starter improved over their first five years in the league by 9.9 points, 1.9 assists, 1.4 rebounds, .2 steals, .2 blocks, 6.16 two-point percentage points, and decreased by 5.71 three-point percentage points. Each player saw an average of 5.1 extra minutes per game, although most of those come from Giannis and Kawhi.

With that data, during the 2026 season, Saddiq Bey could put up a stat line of 22.1 points, 3.3 assists, 5.9 rebounds, .9 steals, .4 blocks, 45.7% shooting from inside, and 37.4% three-point shooting. All of this would take place in 32 minutes of action per night.

Is this attainable? I do think the points are rather low, as Bey will have a much more increased role in the coming seasons, but the rebounding and assist numbers seem about right. I’d like for the outside shooting to be better, which it may very well be. Will Bey be an All-Star with this statline? Probably a reserve on the third team All-NBA, which is the best Detroit has had since Blake Griffin. And when he reaches his peak, he’ll be even better.