Detroit Pistons: 3 Pistons with the most to prove next season

Detroit Pistons: Sekou Doumbouya needs to prove he can make the leap from a developing prospect to an average NBA player

While Hayes may not be entering a make or break year in Detroit, Sekou Doumouya very well could be. The 6-8 power forward was selected by Detroit with the 15th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Doumbouya’s two seasons with the Pistons have been lackluster thus far.

For his career, the 20-year-old averages 5.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 38.4 percent from the floor and 25.4 percent from beyond the arc.

The young forward entered the league as a raw prospect and now finds himself as the last holdover from the previous regime.

Doumbouya has been inconsistent in his first two seasons in Detroit. The 20-year-old will have a stretch where he will play well for a couple of games, but then he will follow that up with weeks of sub-par play and inefficient shooting.

The inconsistent play led to Doumbouya struggling to find minutes in Detroit’s rotation last year.

Doumbouya needs to take a massive leap in production next season if he wants to stick around in the league, let alone Detroit. If the 20-year-old continues to post low-scoring numbers with low efficiency, he will quickly find himself completely out of the Pistons lineup and on the trade block.

Like Hayes, Doumbouya finished off the season on a positive note. The young power forward averaged 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 46.3 percent from the floor in his final eight games last season.

If Doumbouya can consistently put up numbers like that, he will be able to stick around in the league. If he regresses to the mean and plays inconsistently and inefficiently, the 20-year-old’s future with Detroit and in the NBA will seriously come into question.