Somewhere out west, tucked safely behind anonymity, an NBA assistant coach decided to fire off the take of the week.
The Detroit Pistons, owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference, are “pretenders.”
Not contenders. Pretenders.
According to ESPN reporting, a Western Conference assistant coach said he doesn’t “trust them at all” heading into the postseason. The reasoning? Opponents can load up on Cade Cunningham. The secondary scoring is suspect. The résumé is cute, but the belief is not there.
“I don’t trust them at all,” the assistant coach for the Western Conference team told Bontemps and Windhorst. “They have no one besides Cade to attack. You can make any of their other guys try to beat you, and they will have a hard time.”
It’s the kind of quote you drop when you think nobody in Detroit is listening.
Let’s start with this: you do not become a top team in your conference by accident. Not in today’s NBA. Not with the depth of talent across both conferences. If Detroit were skating by on vibes and luck, that would have been exposed months ago.
Instead, Cade Cunningham has evolved into a legitimate MVP-level presence. Jalen Duren has grown into a nightly double-double threat. The defense has tightened. The rotation has stabilized. And the Pistons have beaten real teams in real games.
But sure. Pretenders.
There is always this moment in every rebuild when the national narrative lags behind reality. The team starts winning, but the reputation does not shift as quickly. Analysts call it “unproven.” Coaches call it “untrustworthy.” Anonymous assistants call it whatever they want.
Detroit fans call it familiar.
Because here’s the truth: nobody trusts you until you knock someone out in May. That’s the tax of irrelevance. You pay it until you don’t.
The Western Conference assistant is right about one thing. The playoffs are different. Teams will scheme hard against Cunningham. They will force someone else to beat them. They will test the spacing, the shot creation, the bench production.
That’s not disrespect. That’s basketball.
But labeling this group “pretenders” ignores what they have already built. The Pistons are not some plucky overachiever clinging to a hot streak. They are structured. They defend. They rebound. They close games. They have a star.
You can question whether they are ready to win four playoff rounds. That’s fair.
Calling them fake? That sounds more like anxiety than analysis.
Detroit does not need validation from a Western Conference bench whisperer. What they need is a postseason run.
If they deliver, this quote becomes bulletin board material.
If they don’t, it becomes prophecy.
Either way, the Pistons have reached the stage where people are talking about them like they matter again.
And for this franchise, that alone is progress.