Pistons' dream season vs. the likely reality

The Dream: Trajan Langdon trades expirings for a good player and the Pistons make a run 

The Pistons have the expiring contracts of Beasley and THJ to deal as well as over $10 million in cap space, so they are set up to trade for a player in the range of $30 million if they don’t add anyone before the season. 

We’ll have to wait to see how things shake out to know who that player might be, but if someone like Michael Porter Jr. becomes available, the dream scenario is that the Pistons flip their expiring contracts for a good player and make a real run at the play-in tournament. 

In this dream, Detroit sneaks in as an up-and-coming team, maybe wins a game or two and gets their young players real reps in games that matter for the first time in their careers. 

The Reality: It’s tank time again 

The more realistic scenario is that the Pistons are already well out of it by the trade deadline and they move their veterans for second-round picks, lean into the youth again and tank away, hoping to keep their 2025 pick. 

Langdon has made it clear he is going to build through the draft and player development, a refrain we’ve heard many times before, but given this is his first season, he’ll be given the leeway to be patient.  

He knows the 2025 draft is a good one and he can add one more potentially elite young talent to his core before trying to make real improvement. Patience is not a word Pistons fans want to hear, but be prepared to hear it plenty in March and April of next season. 

Even the “dreams” of Pistons fans are meager, as we just want a competitive team that is fun to watch and looks like they’ll be good soon, but it’s more likely we get a lighter version of that, with some improvement, but an ending that looks eerily similar to the one we’ve seen for the last half a decade.