🏀 5x5 | Royce Webb

🏀 5x5 | Royce Webb

Motown Leads the East — and It Looks Legit. What’s Goin' On?

The Pistons have one of the league's best young cores and a proven formula to win big, now and in the future

Jeremias Engelmann's avatar
Jeremias Engelmann
Dec 05, 2025
∙ Paid

Ausar Thompson and Cade Cunningham give the Pistons one of the NBA’s brightest futures. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)


At the quarter mark of the NBA season, the Detroit Pistons are the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 17-5 record.

One year after improving by 30 wins, they’re making another giant leap. At their current pace, the Pistons will win 19 games more than last season and exceed their Vegas over/under line by better than 16 wins.

Given they are defying expectations once again, let’s dig into what makes the Pistons so good, and how far they can go this season:

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Jeremias Engelmann's avatar
A guest post by
Jeremias Engelmann
Basketball analyst. Creator of ESPN's Real Plus-Minus. Formerly with the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks
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