The Pistons announced their city edition jerseys for next season in stunning fashion via the cover of SLAM magazine edition 255. On the cover image, Cade Cunningham donned an electric black uniform with teal, red and gold accents. The shorts also feature lightning bolts running down the sides in a nice homage to an earlier stage of Cade’s career.
New Detroit Pistons uniforms are best of Cade Cunningham and Grant Hill
Pistons fans have been pleased with city edition jerseys in recent years. The team has brought back many popular concepts, including the infamous teal jerseys of the Grant Hill era, and channeled the spirit of Detroit with homages to St. Cecilia’s Gym and the Bad Boys. In some years, the new jerseys were among the few bright spots for fans as the team struggled to get wins on the court.
These jerseys for next season appear to combine influences from the teal era and the city edition jerseys from 2021-22 (Cade’s rookie year) against a black background for an instant crowd pleaser. The red jerseys from 2021-22 are not the most well-known but have a prominent place in my jersey collection. The first Pistons jersey I ever got is a #2 Cunningham in that red city edition style.
It’s appropriate for the Pistons to combine the influence of that red jersey with the teal from Grant Hill’s time on the team, not just because of how great they look together, but also because of Cade’s similarities to Hill. Like Hill, Cade is a large ball-handler who can do it all on the court and is a frequent triple-double threat.
Cade might also be the best individual talent on the Pistons since Hill’s time. No offense to any of the guys on the 2004 championship team, but they won as a group rather than having any All-NBA standouts. You could argue about who the best player on those teams was, whether you prefer DPOY Ben Wallace or Finals MVP Chauncey Billups, but none of them reached the level of statistical dominance that Cade did last year. Some may also argue for Blake Griffin in 2019, but Cade should far surpass that level in coming seasons.
Either way, Cade and the rest of the team will look great in their city edition jerseys next season and fans can’t wait to see them in an actual game.