While he didn’t specifically refer to them by name, Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon made it clear at a press conference on Thursday that the team views Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Amen Thompson as its core to build around, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscriber link).
Langdon repeatedly referenced Detroit’s three best players and said the team’s goal is to find the right mix of play-making and outside shooting to complement some of that trio’s weaknesses.
“Spacing the floor is huge and just giving more optionality on the offensive end to have more creativity,” he said. “When you have multiple ball-handlers and more shooting on the floor that opens it up for our three best players. Those are things we’re looking at. How do we fill that? Can we fill it with two players, do we fill it with one, or do we do it with a big, we’ll look at all those different options.”
Although Langdon reiterated the Pistons “really want” to re-sign Duren, he said contract negotiations with the restricted free agent center “haven’t been” progressing yet, according to Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. Thompson will also be eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason.
“Those will be conversations that will be had. But to be completely honest, you will never know how those conversations go,” Langdon said.
Here are a few more highlights from Langdon’s press conference:
- Langdon acknowledged that several players choosing to return to college due to lucrative NIL deals “thinned out the depth” of the 2026 class and expressed skepticism that a top shooter would be available at 21st overall, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “It’s pretty hard to find a good shooter at 21. They usually don’t get there,” Langdon said. “Maybe we can add play-making. For us, it’s who’s the best player is what we’ll look at. Does that player fit this environment? Does he fit the identity? Maybe it’s not next year, but in the future. We have players who’ll get expensive and we’re going to have to have players who hit and can help this team.” Langdon added that he expected the Pistons to either stand pat or move up in the first round and doesn’t anticipate moving down or out of the draft. “We feel we’re going to get a good player here,” Langdon said. “We think it’s still a good draft and we’ll find a good player at 21.”
- The Pistons are looking at several different options to upgrade their roster, but Langdon stressed that Detroit’s best chance at improvement will be in house. “We have player development plans for our guys. All of our guys will get better next year,” he said. “We’ll come back a better team. Overall, that’s the best way we’ll grow – internal growth.”
- Langdon stressed the team will be “very thoughtful and intentional” about roster moves with new contracts for Duren and Thompson (starting in 2027/28) on the horizon, Patterson notes. “That’s the tricky part, is trying to balance everything, trying to find things that fit,” Langdon said. “If it’s a trade, then it has to be a trade that we feel is worthwhile. We’re not going to go out and give out too many assets for a player. … Not having those assets down the road (can) hamper us in terms of making another move. We’re having internal thoughts and talks every day right now, the closer we get to that time.”
- The Pistons went from 14 to 44 to 60 wins over the past three years. After claiming the top seed in the Eastern Conference, they were eliminated by Cleveland in a seven-game second-round series. “I can’t sit here and say we don’t want to get better. Getting better means you’ve got to win the second round to get better,” Langdon said, per Langlois. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve got to win 64 games. If we do that, it would be fantastic. We know we need to be more equipped in the postseason. We’re looking at adding pieces that accentuate our core three best players and if we do that, that’ll help us in the regular season and the postseason as well.”
- The Pistons are actively exploring ways to improve on the trade market, Sankofa reports in another subscriber-only story. Selecting an impact player at No. 21, making tangible upgrades to the team’s shooting and play-making, and being careful to not overpay Duren and Thompson would be an ideal offseason for Langdon, Sankofa writes.
