The Pistons and Thunder’s race for the number one pick

Pistons vs. Thunder: Head-to-head and injuries

The Detroit Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder will only play twice this season.

The first game is tonight in Detroit and the second is not until April 1st in Oklahoma City. It will be interesting to see where both teams are at that point, as they might both be in full-on tank mode with some veteran players traded and young guys getting almost all of the minutes.

This season and the race for the number one pick could come down to which team has more injuries, both real ones and the “injuries” that keep veterans out late in the season when a team is tanking.

So far they have both suffered some losses, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has missed three games with injury so far and will be out for tonight’s matchup as well.

The Pistons have only suffered one major injury to Kelly Olynyk so far, and he will still be out several more weeks, which was a significant loss for a team without any big man depth.

Hamidou Diallo is listed as out tonight against his former team with a facial injury and Cory Joseph is listed as doubtful, a loss that would not hurt the Pistons.

With SGA out and the Pistons at home, Detroit has the inside track to winning tonight, but nothing is certain with a team that shoots as poorly as Detroit does.

Hopefully this will be the last season that the Pistons are battling for the worst record in the league, but for now, hope and patience will be required.