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Pistons Notes: Duren, Jenkins, Cade, Thompson, Klintman

November 17th, 2025 at 11:21pm CST by Rory Maher

After missing the past two games with a right ankle sprain, Pistons center Jalen Duren returned to action on Monday and completely overpowered the Pacers, recording 31 points (on 12-of-13 shooting), 15 rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes.

“He’s just continued to dominate and that’s the only way you can say it,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press). “The way he’s rebounding the ball through contact and in traffic, getting to the free throw line … he’s just playing a well-rounded game.”

Detroit won its 10th straight game, the first time the team has reeled off that many victories in a row since 2008, per the NBA (via Twitter). Duren discussed the achievement after the game, according to Sankofa (Twitter video link).

“It’s the work we put in, I think it’s the summer work that we’ve put in. Obviously camaraderie and I think culture, honesty everything plays a part in it. It’s still early in the season, we have a long, long way to go,” Duren said.

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Duren also discussed his growth as a leader, per Hunter Patterson of The Athletic (Twitter video link). “I’ve grown a lot,” Duren said. “ … Everybody holds everybody accountable. We’re not the type of team where it’s one guy dictating everything.”
Daniss Jenkins, who was nominated for the Player of the Week award in the Eastern Conference, had another huge game on Monday, recording a career-high 26 points to go along with eight assists. The second-year guard, on a two-way contract, has thrived over the past handful of games amid backcourt injuries.
Speaking of injuries, star guard Cade Cunningham missed his third straight game with a left hip contusion, while starting forward Ausar Thompson missed his fourth straight due to a right ankle sprain. Both players were listed as questionable before being ruled out, and Bickerstaff says they’re “trending in the right direction,” Patterson tweets.
Second-year forward Bobi Klintman is expected to miss a “little bit of time” with a left ankle sprain, Bickerstaff told reporters, including Sankofa (Twitter link). The 22-year-old was a second-round pick in last year’s draft (37th overall).

Central Notes: White, Davis, Siakam, Martin, Cunningham, Duren

November 17th, 2025 at 1:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bulls guard Coby White made his long-awaited season debut and he didn’t disappoint. White, who was sidelined by a calf strain, scored 27 points and delivered eight assists in a double overtime loss to Utah on Sunday.

“The coaching staff talked to me about coming back and being aggressive, being who I was,” White said, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times. “Not kind of tiptoeing. I focused on that.”

White will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

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Mavericks big man Anthony Davis was born in Chicago. Would the Bulls consider trading for the highly productive but oft-injured Davis? Cowley doubts that, noting that executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas said at the start of training camp, “We have to be patient, we have to do it the right way and we can’t skip steps.” Davis has two guaranteed seasons remaining on his three-year, $175.3MM deal, which includes a player option for 2027/28.
The Pacers have been decimated by injuries, but forward Pascal Siakam says that’s not a strong enough excuse for a 1-12 start. “We are playing in the NBA, the best league in the world,” he told The Indianapolis Star’s Dustin Dopirak. “There shouldn’t be a reason why you’re out there every single night and not giving your best or trying to be the best that you can be and giving it your all. There’s thousands and millions of people who would give everything they have to be in the situation that we’re in. There’s no excuse. Obviously, it’s been tough on us. We have injuries every single day. Guys are in situations that they’re not supposed to be in. But we can’t find it as an excuse and just go out there every single night and be like, ‘Whatever happens happens.’ It has to matter. We have to fight.”
Cody Martin‘s 10-day contract under the hardship exception expired on Saturday and the Pacers couldn’t sign him to another, according to Dopirak, since they currently don’t qualify under the hardship rules. Martin appeared in four games during his brief stay with Indiana.
The Pistons could have three starters back on Monday against Indiana, including star guard Cade Cunningham. Cunningham has missed the last two games due to a left hip contusion, while Ausar Thompson (right ankle sprain) has missed the last three — both players are listed as questionable. Jalen Duren, who has also missed the last two games due to a right ankle sprain, is listed as probable, according to The Detroit Free Press’ Omari Sankofa II.

Central Notes: Nesmith, Walker, Terry, Pistons

November 14th, 2025 at 7:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Aaron Nesmith had to crawl off the court in Thursday’s loss at Phoenix, but the Pacers are hopeful that his injury won’t keep him out for long, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Nesmith was getting into a defensive stance in the third quarter when his left foot bent the wrong way (Twitter video link). He was helped to the locker room, and the team announced that he wouldn’t return due to knee soreness.

Nesmith was limping and appeared to have an ice bag on the knee as he left the arena, but he wasn’t using crutches, Dopirak observes. Coach Rick Carlisle was optimistic that it isn’t something severe like a ligament tear.

“Hoping that Aaron’s situation is not very serious,” he said. “At this point, it looks like we may have dodged a bullet in terms of something that is very serious. But he will miss some time.”

Losing Nesmith would add to a catastrophic run of injuries for the defending Eastern Conference champions that began with Tyrese Haliburton‘s Achilles tear in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Seven players were sidelined heading into Thursday’s game, which Indiana lost by 35 points to fall to 1-11.

Nesmith would be a major loss if he has to miss any significant time. Dopirak points out that he’s handling an increased offensive load for the short-handed team in addition to being its most versatile defender.

“It hurts,” Carlisle said. “He’s a top player on this team. It hurt us out there tonight and it’s going to affect us.”

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Another rough shooting night for Jarace Walker brought his field goal percentage down to 29.7% for the season, Dopirak tweets. The third-year power forward missed all 10 of his shots in Phoenix after going 1-of-8 in the previous game at Utah. He was removed from the Pacers‘ starting lineup on Tuesday after starting seven straight games.
Bulls guard Dalen Terry isn’t getting the playing time he had hoped for, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Terry, who will be a restricted free agent after not receiving a rookie scale extension, has appeared in seven of the team’s 11 games, but is averaging just 5.9 minutes per night. “I feel like it’s been a situation I’ve been in my whole life, to be honest with you,” he said. “With this being a contract year and things not starting like you want them to, guys can go into a dark place. But I just look at it like, ‘Man, it’s just basketball, and we’re winning right now.’ So my feelings aren’t really the priority.”
The 10-2 Pistons are off to the best start in the East, but they have a lengthy injury report for Friday’s NBA Cup game against Philadelphia, notes Hunter Patterson of the Athletic (Twitter links). Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart are all listed as questionable, while Ausar Thompson and Tobias Harris are out.

Pistons Notes: Cunningham, Injuries, Harris, Jenkins, Green

November 11th, 2025 at 8:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Cade Cunningham, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, scored a career-high 46 points in the Pistons’ wild 137-135 overtime win over the Wizards on Tuesday. With a handful of regulars sitting out, Cunningham attempted 45 field goals and made 14. He went 16-of-18 from the foul line.

Cunningham also recorded his first triple-double of the season — he contributed 11 assists, 12 rebounds, five steals and two blocks, becoming the first player in NBA history with those numbers in a single game since the league began tracking steals and blocks in 1973/74, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).

Cunningham also took a hard fall in the fourth quarter when he was fouled by Wizards forward Cam Whitmore but he stayed in the game, which was the Pistons’ seventh straight win.

“I didn’t like the way that it happened,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of Whitmore’s foul, per Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. “When you take a guy out of the air like that, you don’t walk up on him. I thought (the officials) could have done a better job of controlling that situation. … It shows the courage of Cade, the resilience of Cade, the want to not let his teammates down. He could’ve stayed in the back, very easily, with what he was going through. But he didn’t want to give up. He wanted to continue to fight even when we were down, and he led us to the victory.”

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Detroit played without Ausar Thompson (right ankle), Tobias Harris (right ankle), Jaden Ivey (right knee), Isaiah Stewart (left ankle), Caris LeVert (left knee) and Marcus Sasser (right hip). Harris has missed five consecutive games. “It’s a high ankle sprain and he’s progressing,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s just those things that take a little longer than you would like, but he’s progressing day to day. We’re hopeful he’ll be back soon.” Harris and Thompson are listed as out against Chicago on Wednesday, while Stewart is doubtful, Patterson tweets.
Two-way player Daniss Jenkins logged 34 minutes and finished with 24 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists in what was just his 13th career NBA game. Jenkins sent the game into overtime on a corner three-pointer in the final second of regulation. “You dream of stuff like this,” Jenkins told Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press. “To come out and really hit that type of shot, I didn’t know what to do. I was just filled with a lot of joy and excitement and just congratulating myself, staying true to the journey, staying true to everything. I have to practice what I preach. This life is a marathon, everything is a marathon. My journey is a marathon.”
Due to the injuries, Javonte Green made his first start with the Pistons, notching his first double-double of the season and second of his career with 11 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 38 minutes. Detroit signed Green, who played for New Orleans and Cleveland last season, to a one-year, partially guaranteed deal in the summer. “He blocked [two] threes, which is hard to do…Again, It’s top to bottom. These guys care about winning, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win. [Green] knows who he is and understands how he impacts winning,” Bickerstaff said.

Cade Cunningham, Nikola Jokic Named Players Of Week

November 10th, 2025 at 2:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pistons guard Cade Cunningham has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, while Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has been chosen as the Western Conference Player of the Week, according to the NBA (Twitter links).

Cunningham led Detroit to four consecutive wins during the week of November 3-9 while averaging 31.0 points and 9.8 assists per game on 54.7% shooting. This marks the second time in his career that Cunningham has received a Player of the Week award.

Jokic also led his team to a 4-0 week, with home victories over Sacramento, Miami, Golden State, and Indiana. The three-time MVP averaged a triple-double, with 31.3 points, 13.3 assists, and 11.3 rebounds per contest. His biggest game of the week came last Wednesday against the Heat, when he racked up 33 points, 16 assists, 15 rebounds, and three steals.

Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers), Norman Powell (Heat) and Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks) were the other Eastern Conference nominees.

Devin Booker (Suns), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Trey Murphy III (Pelicans), Julius Randle (Timberwolves) and Alperen Sengun (Rockets) were also nominated in the West.

Central Notes: Giannis, Duren, White, Okoro

November 10th, 2025 at 1:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bucks folded in the late stages of a 122-115 loss to Houston on Sunday. Giannis Antetokounmpo posted 37 points, eight rebounds and three assists but couldn’t sustain that same level of production in crunch time, Eric Nehm of The Athletic notes. In the final five minutes, Antetokounmpo had one field goal, went 2-of-6 from the free throw line, and committed two turnovers.

“We didn’t execute as well (as them),” Antetokounmpo said. “The ball was sticking a lot… Whenever we were double-teaming or trapping the pick-and-roll, they were moving the ball, finding the open man. They were able to make some shots and we did the complete opposite.”

The Bucks superstar is listed as probable to play against Dallas in the second game of a back-to-back on Monday, Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal tweets.

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The Pistons are shooting for the seventh straight victory when they host the Wizards on Monday. They pulled out a 111-108 road win over Philadelphia on Sunday. During the winning streak, Cade Cunningham is averaging 29.2 points and 11.2 assists per game, while center Jalen Duren — who is headed to restricted free agency — is averaging 23.5 PPG and 13.5 RPG.“He’s been dominant,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of Duren, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “The way he helps us protect the rim, the job he does on the boards, the threat that he is in the pick-and-roll and in the pocket … he’s a guy that can connect our group, too. He’s another guy who can facilitate and playmake, and then he’s an elite communicator, which has been a huge growth for him defensively. He’s talking to guys, always in the right spot, so I thought he was great again (Sunday).”
Coby White (strained right calf) has yet to play this season, but the Bulls guard is expected back soon. Coach Billy Donovan anticipates he’ll make a seamless return to the rotation, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I feel pretty good about him coming back,” Donovan said. “He’s always been a team guy. The rhythm for him individually, he’s going to work through that, and in time, it will get better, but in terms of him seamlessly coming back, I don’t worry about the chemistry at all, not with him. He plays the right way. Being around these guys, his IQ, his years in the league, I think he’ll know how to come back and integrate himself.” White was assigned to the G League’s Windy City Bulls on Monday to get some practice time, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network tweets.
Isaac Okoro faced his former team on Saturday when the Cavaliers defeated the Bulls, 128-122. The Bulls forward, who was traded by Cleveland during the offseason, scored 19 points with four rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes. “I had a wonderful five years in Cleveland,” Okoro said, per Johnson (Twitter link). “They treat their players right –coaches, front-office staff. I love all these guys. But once tip goes up, it’s Bulls vs. Cavs.”

Pistons Notes: Duren, Cunningham, Stewart, Klintman, Jones

November 8th, 2025 at 8:25am CST by Dana Gauruder

Jalen Duren‘s impressive start continued on Friday, as the Pistons center dominated inside with 30 points, 11 rebounds and three steals in a victory over the Nets. He’s now averaging 19.2 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.

“We’ve put together a plan over the summer for him and he was as dedicated to that plan as anybody,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, per Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press. “He worked relentlessly on his game. He’s always had the talent. I think the confidence is coming now, too, so he can see what he can do against other guys. You watch how much more aggressive he is offensively with the ball in his hands. I think last year it was a lot of him getting set up. We wanted him to attack more. We want him to try to create for himself more, put more pressure on the defense. I think he’s done that. It all comes down to the work that he’s put in.”

Duren will be one of the top restricted free agents on the market next summer. The Pistons were unable to sign the fourth-year big man to a rookie scale extension prior to last month’s deadline.

“He’s dominant,” Cade Cunningham said. “He’s not waiting. He’s attacking every game. Really can’t enough be said about how he’s approached the game lately and he has all the ability in the world to do what he’s been doing. It’s exciting.”

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Cunningham supplied 34 points and 10 assists against Brooklyn. Duren and Cunningham became the first Pistons teammates with 30-plus point double-doubles in the same game since Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond did it on Dec. 18, 2015 against Chicago, the team’s PR department tweets.
Isaiah Stewart departed in the second quarter after he rolled his left ankle. The Pistons were already without starting forward Tobias Harris, who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury. That opened up an opportunity for 2024 second-round pick Bobi Klintman, Sankofa notes. In his second appearance this season, Klintman scored two points, grabbed four rebounds and added an assist in 12 minutes.
The Pistons claimed big man Isaac Jones off waivers from the Kings on Thursday. Bickerstaff believes Jones’ style will fit right in with the team’s identity, Sankofa tweets. “There’s an energy. He has a similar spirit to the group of bigs that we have already,” the coach said. “He’s a fighter, he’s a scrapper, his interior skills. He just gives us a boost there.”

Pistons Notes: Cunningham, Stewart, Harris, Duren, Fast Start

November 6th, 2025 at 10:57am CST by Dana Gauruder

Cade Cunningham has been a fourth-quarter dynamo during the Pistons’ 6-2 start. The star guard has racked up 86 fourth-quarter points, tops in the league. He has scored 19 points in each of the last two games in the final 12 minutes, including a 114-103 victory over Utah on Wednesday.

“We’re just now turning the corner as far as just not being losers,” Cunningham said, per Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. “We were losers for a little stint in the NBA. But we all have winning habits, winning mentalities. We’re just starting to get our feet wet as far as learning winning basketball.”

Cunningham continues to impress second-year Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

“He’s phenomenal,” Bickerstaff said. “He’s an unbelievable player, unbelievable person. Great teammate, great leader. Everything you want in a No. 1 guy, Cade is it.”

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Move over, Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert. In Bickerstaff’s assessment, Isaiah Stewart is the league’s premier rim protector. Stewart is averaging a career-best 2.4 blocks per game so far this season. “He’s the best rim protector in the league. His timing, anticipation, always being early to the spot,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s a fearlessness, right? Where a lot of people would just get out of the way because they don’t want to get dunked on anymore, Isaiah doesn’t mind. He’s going to go up there and he’s going to challenge anybody because it’s the right thing to do. And that’s his responsibility for this team – protect the rim. It doesn’t matter to him the outcome, because he’s going to get more times than he’s been got.”
Starting forward Tobias Harris sat out for the second straight time due to an ankle injury but he should return soon. “He’s getting better. The ankle is one of those things that it’s ‘how is it today?’ – you do more and see how it responds tomorrow,” Bickerstaff said. “But Tobias has been, throughout his career, one of the more durable and reliable players who doesn’t miss a ton of time. So, we don’t expect [him to miss significant time], but again, we’ll always do what’s right by him and make sure he’s healthy.”
Jalen Duren had a monster game against the Jazz with 22 points and 22 rebounds. “I’ve had conversations with J.B., multiple conversations throughout the summer, coming into the season on how he’s seen me work on my game in the summer, how he wants me to continue to be aggressive and kind of show what I’ve been working on,” he said. “With that came a lot of confidence. My teammates, too, telling me to keep attacking bigs and whoever opposing teams decide to put on me. I’m just trying to do what they tell me to do.”
There’s plenty to like about the Pistons’ quick start, Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois writes, and they should be even better down the road. Langlois notes that newcomers Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert are still trying to settle into their roles, while guards Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser will provide even more firepower when they return from injuries.

Pistons Notes: Gores, Cunningham, Thompson, Cavs Loss

October 28th, 2025 at 4:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pistons owner Tom Gores believes the team’s players and coaches are “fully aligned” after last season’s surprise run to a playoff berth, according to Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois.

“There’s alignment,” Gores said. “There’s tremendous alignment between the players and what they’re trying to accomplish, the coaching staff and (J.B. Bickerstaff). We are fully aligned. I’m sleeping much better at night knowing that. Nobody is laying low on what we did last year. Last year we came out with great urgency, a chip on our shoulder and we won. It’s great, but we’ve go to come in with a bigger chip and great urgency. I think it’s right down from Trajan (Langdon)‘s front office folks to the coaching staff to the players. There’s a huge opportunity for the Pistons to do a lot of special things.”

Gores attended the team’s home opener on Sunday afternoon and spoke with the media prior to its win over Boston. The franchise has generally floundered since he took control of the franchise but Gores believes he’s finally got the right front office and coaching staff to produce a consistent winner.

“I was thinking today driving in, it’s been a decade, really, trying to get to where we are today,” he said, per Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press. “It’s taken a lot of patience and a lot of hard times. It feels great. I feel like we’re set up to be a machine. I feel like we’re set up to be a sustainable winner. But I’m also nervous, we have to win.”

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Can Cade Cunningham work his way into the Most Valuable Player conversation? If the Pistons can build off last season’s success, Cunningham believes it’s possible, he told ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill. “If I can help get this team to where my goal is to get this team this season, all this stuff will be on the way,” he said. “I’m not shy to say that. I think that’s very possible.”
Ausar Thompson averaged 4.7 assists during the team’s first three games. Bickerstaff believes that Thompson can develop into a reliable play-maker during his third year in the league. “That was part of the plan,” Bickerstaff said. “We go back and you try to study every summer, try to figure out ways to help guys improve, and ways to help your team improve. We noticed, obviously, how many good things happen when we put the ball in Ausar’s hands. … The next step for him was the ball in his hands as a playmaker. Being that Swiss army knife that we knew he was capable of.”
The Pistons’ three-game winning streak was halted on Monday by the Cavaliers, who blew them out by a score of 116-95. Bickerstaff isn’t overly concerned with the team’s clunker against an elite club. “They’re a good defensive team. We just had a rough night (Monday),” he said. “We turned the ball over 26 times. It’s hard moving your offense when you’re turning the basketball over. But it’s one night – we’ll be better.”
The Pistons host Orlando on Wednesday. Thompson is questionable to play because of an illness, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic tweets.
In case you missed it, the Pistons picked up their rookie scale options for 2026/27 on three players. Get the details here.

Central Notes: Nembhard, Cunningham, Jones, Allen

October 26th, 2025 at 9:57pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Pacers have been hit hard by injuries, but there’s at least one ray of hope on the horizon, reports Marc Stein of the Stein Line (subscriber link).

Andrew Nembhard left Thursday night’s game against the Thunder early after aggravating a preexisting shoulder injury. According to Stein, following an MRI, there’s optimism that Nembhard’s absence won’t be a long-term one.

Nembhard is expected to play a key role for the Pacers this season as one of the few healthy ball-handlers remaining on the roster. As Indiana has lost more and more players due to injury, it’s become harder for the team to keep itself organized, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.

In addition to Nembhard, Tyrese Haliburton, TJ McConnell, Taelon Peter, Kam Jones, and Bennedict Mathurin were all on the injury report for Indiana coming into Sunday’s game, and things only got worse after tip-off, as Obi Toppin left the game against the Timberwolves early with a hamstring injury, per Dopirak (Twitter link).

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Cade Cunningham had his coming-out party for the Pistons last season, earning All-NBA honors for the first time and placing seventh in MVP voting. That has led to renewed defensive focus from opposing teams, which Cunningham says he’s still trying to learn how to deal with, writes Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). “I just don’t feel like I’ve handled it the way I want to,” Cunningham said. “I’m gonna keep watching the film and try to be better for my team. I feel like we had a lot of empty offensive possessions because I just didn’t handle the hots correctly.”
Tre Jones has been labeled a “pure point guard” for much of his career. He’s showing how that can help a team during the start of the Bulls‘ season, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “The game is going positionless a little bit, but trying to keep the point guard spot alive, especially with the height that I have,” Jones said. “I don’t think point guard will ever be out of the game completely. I think there will always be a spot for a point guard and that mentality. It’s something I’ve taken pride in my whole life. How could you not take pride in being called a pure point guard?” Head coach Billy Donovan compared Jones’ ascent in Chicago to Aaron Nesmith‘s jump as a player from his time with the Celtics to his Finals run with the Pacers last season. “One thing I figured out really quickly when I was playing, the most important stat for any NBA player is minutes played per game because these guys are all really, really good, and if they get an opportunity, generally they’re going to show what they can do,” Donovan said.
Jarrett Allen‘s season debut against the Knicks left a sour taste in Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson‘s mouth, writes Chris Fedor for Cleveland.com (subscriber link). “That wasn’t the Jarrett Allen we all know,” Atkinson said. “That was more on us not seeking him out. But conversely, he can’t get four rebounds. I was really bummed about that. Can’t be like that.” Atkinson made sure to be clear that he wasn’t singling out Allen, saying, “This is a self-criticism too. We take him for granted. I have to be better about talking to him more and talking to our leaders more about him.” The message seemed to sink in: in Cleveland’s second game against the Nets, Allen had 22 points, seven rebounds, and four assists; he followed that up with an eight-point, 11-rebound outing in Sunday’s 118-113 win over the Bucks.