The Detroit Pistons may not have had the most active offseason as the Jalen Duren dance goes on, but they may be in a better long-term position than the Cleveland Cavaliers after their James Harden decision.
Harden signed a three-year contract worth a few ticks under $100 million with Cleveland, which will tie him to northeast Ohio until the end of his age-39 season. This comes not even 24 hours after the Cavs agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that landed Peyton Watson in town on a four-year, $88 million extension for the short-term future.
With this deal, the Cavs have financially limited themselves to be beholden to a very specific style of play, which could be exploited by a Pistons team out for revenge.
Pistons fans should rejoice as Cavaliers sign James Harden to three-year contract
While a Harden and Donovan Mitchell-led backcourt are obviously going to put up points, there's a level of defensive ineptitude baked into that alignment. While the Cavaliers are banking on Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen starring on that end and making up for those deficiencies, the playoff loss to the New York Knicks showed how that frontcourt tandem can be neutralized with the right plan.
While the Cavs proved good enough to beat a Pistons team that was perhaps too overreliant on Cade Cunningham to score (and has not added someone who can take some of that responsibility off him in the offseason), Cleveland has essentially locked itself into a starting five that is almost immutable, barring a huge trade.
If the Pistons can land that one dynamic backcourt scorer who can ensure the half-court offense goes beyond Cunningham creating magic and a bunch of role players chucking 3-pointers, it seems hard to envision how an older Harden and Mitchell will be able to provide enough defensive resistance. Watson helps, but does he help enough?
With the East around the Cavs swiftly improving to the point where it is by no means a guarantee that they will escape the uncertainty of the play-in tournament. The Pistons are not out of that tier just yet, and they will need to make one or two more big moves to distance themselves from Cleveland, but that doesn't negate what an unforced error this contract was.
While the postseason was a bitter loss for Detroit at the hands of a hated rival, a team that learned their lesson could go on the attack in 2026 and beyond.
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