Will 2021-22 be the worst Detroit Pistons season ever?

If there is one thing fans of the Detroit Pistons have learned, it’s that things can always get worse.

The Pistons were the worst team in the NBA before losing their two best players, so now the possibility of being “historically bad” is on the table.

We knew the Pistons were not contenders this season, but some of us thought they would win 25-30 games and improve upon last season after adding Cade Cunningham with the number one pick.

Right now, 25 wins seams like a pipe dream, and it’s far more likely that the Pistons end up worse than last season and could challenge for the worst record in franchise history if they are not careful.

With the league’s 10th most difficult strength of schedule in the remaining games, the Pistons might be on their way to making history.

What is the worst Detroit Pistons record of all time?

In case you were wondering, the 1980 Detroit Pistons have the worst record in franchise history, coming in at 16-66 for a .195 winning percentage.

The current Pistons have just a .167 winning percentage, so they are on pace to be the worst team in franchise history.

It gets worse.

That 1980 team shot 48 percent and scored 108 points per game on average, while this year’s squad, in the age of offense, shoots just 41 percent and averages just 100 points per game.

The defense is at least better than in 1980, when the Detroit Pistons gave up an astounding 117.2 points per game in the era before the 3-point shot was prevalent, which is impressively awful.

This year’s Pistons only give up 109 per game, but the net rating is about the same.

It’s possible that the 2021-22 Detroit Pistons will go on a run at some point, but it’s really hard to imagine, as they have mostly been at full strength this season playing against teams that were either resting their best players or had them out with injury or illness, so it’s not going to get any easier.

Even a lot of the “bad” teams left on the schedule, teams like the Pelicans and Kings, are actually trying to win games and make the play-in, so the Pistons aren’t going to get any easy ones.

In other words, you might be witnessing history, as this season’s Detroit Pistons very well could be the worst team the franchise has ever had.

The bright side is that those terrible teams of the early 80’s led to some of the Pistons’ best draft picks and eventually, sustained success, so hopefully the same will happen with these early 2020’s teams.