Detroit Pistons

Detroit Pistons, American professional basketball team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, outside Detroit. The Pistons have won three National Basketball Association (NBA) championships (1989, 1990, 2004).

Established in 1941 as the Zollner Pistons (named for team owner and auto parts manufacturer Fred Zollner) and based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Pistons originally played in the National Basketball League (NBL), in which they won two league championships (1944–45). The Pistons joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA) for the 1948–49 season—dropping “Zollner” from their name—and they became part of the NBA in 1949 when the league was created from the merger of the BAA and the NBL. The Pistons advanced to the NBA finals in 1955 and 1956 but lost on each occasion.

The franchise was moved to Detroit in 1957 in order to capitalize on the financial benefits of a larger market. Despite the presence of such stars as Bailey Howell, Jimmy Walker, Dave DeBusschere, and Dave Bing, the Pistons posted losing records in each of their first 13 seasons in Detroit (though they did occasionally qualify for the postseason, owing to the small size of the NBA at the time). Detroit chose future Hall of Fame centre Bob Lanier with the first selection of the 1970 NBA draft, but the team’s mediocrity continued as they had only three winning seasons in Lanier’s 10 years with the Pistons.

The Pistons’ ascent to the upper echelon of the NBA began with the drafting of point guard Isiah Thomas in 1981. Thomas was joined by Bill Laimbeer, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, and Vinnie Johnson to form teams that made three consecutive trips to the NBA finals. In 1988 the Pistons lost the finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in a dramatic seven-game series, but the Pistons swept a rematch between the two teams in 1989 to capture the franchise’s first title since its move to Detroit 32 years earlier. The Pistons successfully defended their championship in the 1990 finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. Under the guidance of head coach Chuck Daly, these Detroit teams were characterized by their extremely physical—some would say dirty—style of play, which earned them the nickname “Bad Boys.” After another trip to the conference finals in 1991 (a loss to Michael Jordan and the ascendant Chicago Bulls), Detroit regressed and did not field a team that advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the remainder of the decade, despite the presence of such stars as Dumars and Grant Hill in the mid- to late 1990s.

Under the guidance of new general manager Dumars, the Pistons overhauled their roster in the early 2000s, adding Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace. These players soon helped Detroit return to the NBA elite, securing the team an NBA championship over the Lakers in 2004 and a finals appearance in 2005, when they lost to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. All told, the Pistons of that era reached the Eastern Conference finals in six consecutive seasons (from 2002–03 to 2007–08). Most of the key players from this run had left the team by the 2009–10 season, and the Pistons then entered into a rebuilding period. However, the process moved slowly, and Dumars stepped down from his front-office position following the 2013–14 season after the Pistons’ streak of missing the playoffs reached five seasons. Led by young star centre Andre Drummond, the Pistons returned to the postseason in 2015–16, where the team was swept in the opening round. The excitement among Detroit fans that that playoff berth had created was quickly snuffed out the following season as the team struggled to a losing record. The Pistons traded for star forward Blake Griffin during the 2017–18 season, and Detroit again qualified for the postseason in 2018–19. That turnaround proved to be an aberration, and the Pistons won just 20 games in each of the following two seasons.