The 2025-26 NBA season has been a smashing success for the Detroit Pistons, who are pacing the Eastern Conference in winning percentage and sitting third overall in net efficiency. They are clearly on the cusp of championship contention, but if they want a shot at winning the title race, then they'll have to address nagging needs for more shooting and support scoring alongside Cade Cunningham.
Maybe the Pistons are holding out hope of developing that type of talent in-house, but no one is on a surefire superstar trajectory. And that has folks, like ESPN's Tim Bontemps, wondering if they'll try to give Cunningham a co-star before the trade deadline. Because, as Bontemps said on The Hoop Collective podcast, "They have all the pieces you would want to be a legitimate championship threat except for that second scorer."
Identifying the need is the easy part, though. The difficulty is figuring out how Detroit gets that kind of deal done—or if it even has any desire to.
Pistons are preaching patience, but this situation might call for urgency.
Cunningham is the senior member of Detroit's young core, and he won't turn 25 until September. If you're looking for an obvious reason for the Pistons to rush this, you'll have trouble finding one.
As Tim MacMahon detailed on the same podcast, the Pistons "are very much in a patient, methodical mindset." They are "opportunistic," but they also don't feel hurried to find "that finishing piece."
In a way, that's understandable. Their surge has been so sudden—this was a 68-loss squad just two seasons back—that they might think it's irresponsible to put a cap on their growth potential. It's hard to say Cunningham's potential sidekicks aren't ready for playoff tests when they haven't really received the exams yet. This core has taken just one postseason trip together, and that was a pretty encouraging one (a six-game loss to the third-seeded New York Knicks).
Maybe the bright lights wind up bringing the best out of up-and-comers like Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey, and Ron Holland II. Having them rise to the occasion would be a dream. Because if the Pistons don't have to sacrifice any assets to make a run at the throne, then they might be able to thrive in the apron era by building out their supporting cast with young, cost-controlled talent, similar to what the Oklahoma City Thunder are doing.
All of that said, what happens if Detroit gets to the playoffs and quickly finds out it doesn't have anyone capable of counter-punching teams who inevitably put all of their defensive attention on Cunningham? Because the Pistons don't have an obvious second-star candidate like the Thunder did with Jalen Williams. And if no one steps up, then Detroit will have wasted this golden opportunity to lay claim to the injury-impacted, wide-open Eastern Conference.
It feels like the Pistons plan to err on the side of caution, but there's risk in that approach, too. Contending windows seldom stay open as long as you'd think, and you never want to take these chances for granted. Plus, a particularly putrid playoff showing might drop the value of Detroit's trade chips while upping the asking price from potential trade partners sensing desperation.
This should be a fascinating trade season for a lot of reasons, but it might be most fascinating to find out what—if anything—the Pistons plan to do about that co-star vacancy next to Cunningham.