Looking at the Detroit Pistons’ schedule for next season, it’s pretty well-balanced. The Pistons are finally relieved of leading the league in back-to-backs and don’t have exceptionally good or bad luck. However, their hardest stretch of the season comes right around Christmas time and involves a 5-game road trip out West.
Right after the NBA Cup knockout stage/aftermath (for teams that don’t make the knockout stage), the Pistons begin a stretch of 6 out of 7 games on the road. All of the road games are on the West coast and most will involve significant travel as well. After getting completely ignored for the Christmas Day slate, this tough schedule in its stead just feels like added insult to injury.
The games in question, from December 18th to December 30th are: at Dallas, home against Charlotte, at Portland, at Sacramento, at Utah, at LA (Clippers) and at LA (Lakers).
Detroit Pistons' schedule: Longest Road Trip of the Season
The five consecutive road games to end this stretch are the most for the Pistons this season and most are not against walkover teams. The Utah Jazz are likely headed towards another year of hardcore tanking but every other Western team on this list will have playoff aspirations, especially this early in the season.
Portland has acquired some renowned veterans in Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard who they’re hoping will lead the team to more wins. And Sacramento fancies themselves a contender despite questions about their playoff ceiling. They even made win-now moves to steal Dennis Schroder from the Pistons, but the jury is still out on that move.
Of course, the two LA teams were already among the best teams in the West last year. And Dallas is adding the #1 overall pick in this year’s draft to a playoff-quality team. All three of those games could easily be ones where the Pistons are underdogs.
The Storm Before the Calm
This grueling stretch of games comes immediately before one of the Pistons’ comfiest stretch of games, including their longest consecutive home stand. It will be an interesting test to see how the young Pistons weather such an intensive road trip immediately before a more relaxed stretch.
Fortunately, there are not as many Eastern teams in this stretch so there is not as much impact to playoff standings. However, stealing some wins from the West will be crucial for any East team looking to get a leg up on the rest of the conference.
Between the brutal travel of the late December stretch and multiple showdowns with conference foes in the New Year, the Pistons will have their maturity challenged. It will be high time for Cade Cunningham and company to show that they are ready to hang with the best in the league.