Pistons Need Scoring Help Around Cade Cunningham
Detroit won 60 games, finished first in the East, and pushed to a seven-game second-round series, but the playoffs also sharpened the Detroit Pistons ’ biggest offseason need. With a 60-22 record, 117.8 points per game, and a first-place conference finish , the foundation is alre
Detroit won 60 games, finished first in the East, and pushed to a seven-game second-round series, but the playoffs also sharpened the Detroit Pistons ’ biggest offseason need. With a 60-22 record, 117.8 points per game, and a first-place conference finish , the foundation is already there. The missing piece for the Pistons is a proven scorer who can take real pressure off Cade Cunningham .
Cunningham carried the offensive load all year, averaging 23.9 points and 9.9 assists per game in the regular season . That burden climbed in the playoffs, where he led the Detroit Pistons at 28.1 points per game over 14 postseason games.
There is no question about who runs this team now. Cunningham has already shown he can be the lead initiator on a top-tier club, and Detroit’s defense held up well enough to support a deep run.
The scoring behind him was where the gap showed. Tobias Harris was Detroit’s second-leading playoff scorer at 18.1 points per game, and Duncan Robinson was next at 11.8. No other regular postseason contributor averaged more than that on Detroit’s playoff stat page .
The Detroit Pistons’ Game 1 win over Cleveland offered a clean example of what this offense looks like when Cunningham gets real support. Cunningham scored 23 points and Harris added 20 in Detroit’s 111-101 win on May 5 .
That kind of balance matters in a seven-game series. When defenses load up on Cunningham, the Pistons need another player who can create shots, punish switches, and keep the offense from flattening out late in possessions.
The roster-building challenge is financial as much as basketball. Detroit is not sitting in easy max-cap-space territory, and the club’s projected cap table points toward trades, exceptions, or targeted additions instead of a simple free-agent splash.
One available tool is the $15 million mid-level exception for 2026 free agency , with the same report identifying more creation as a clear need. Postseason evaluation around the team reached the same point, with Detroit’s offensive flaws and lack of deadline scoring help standing out once the competition tightened.
