Is the Pistons TV announcement a sign of things to come?

There aren't many reasons to watch the Detroit Pistons' final nine games of the season.

But for those of us sickos who keep subjecting ourselves to this, the Pistons made it easier by announcing they will be airing five of the final games over the air on TV-20 Detroit (WMYD):

It's nice for the Pistons and owner Tom Gores to throw fans a bone now that the season is long over and half the roster is on the injured list.

It may be a meaningless gesture now but is hopefully a sign of things to come.

How to watch the Detroit Pistons

The single biggest complaint I've heard from fans regarding the coverage of the Detroit Pistons is that they can't watch the games. Strange, I know.

Games on NBA League Pass are blacked out in the region, which leaves either paying for expensive cable TV (which no one under 50 wants to do) or paying for an expensive app that is terrible and rarely works.

The NBA has talked about cracking down on illegal streams (good luck) without addressing the problem which is that many people are driven to them because it's the only affordable way to watch the game, not to mention the fact that they often work better than the Bally app.

If you were trying to build excitement around a team, allowing fans to actually watch the games would be a start. I know, wild idea.

So partnering with a local station for some good old-fashioned terrestrial games is a good thing, even if we are at the point of the season when no one wants to watch them.

Let's hope this marks the beginning of more of this, even if it only starts with a handful of meaningless games. The NBA needs to cater to the audience that fuels it, which includes a lot of people who cut the cord a long time ago or never had one to begin with, who want to pay a reasonable price to stream games or watch them for free.

So let the fans watch the games, I say, and who knows, maybe they will.