The 2026 NBA Playoffs Are Here and the Pistons Are the Team to Beat
It's officially playoff season. The regular season wrapped Sunday with all 30 teams in action to close out the 82-game grind, and now the real work starts. Twenty teams are locked in and seeded, ready to chase the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June. The play-in tournament tips off Tuesday with four teams from each conference fighting for the last two playoff spots. Everything changes now.
Detroit Sitting Pretty at the Top
The Detroit Pistons didn't just make the playoffs. They finished with the best record in the entire Eastern Conference at 60-22, capping off one of the best seasons in franchise history. This team was built on elite defense, intensity, and physicality, the kind of grit that's defined every great Detroit squad. That foundation got them here. But here's the question that matters now: can they score enough to actually win it all?
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👉 Claim Your Free $10 at KalshiCade Cunningham has finally become the player everyone drafted him to be back in 2021. He's playing at an All-NBA level and looked like a lock for the All-NBA team this season. The problem? The guys around him are largely unproven. If Detroit's offense can't match their defense when the playoffs get tight, even a 60-win season won't get them past the first round.
But First, One Major Issue
Here's the biggest wildcard heading into the postseason: Cunningham's health. A collapsed lung sidelined him late in the season, but the Pistons kept rolling without him and still wrapped up the conference's best record. Cunningham shook off the rust with two games last week, but everything about Detroit's playoff hopes depends on him being fully healthy and back to that All-NBA form. The Pistons need him firing on all cylinders to make a real Finals run.
The play-in tournament starts Tuesday. Once that shakes out, the 8-seed will step into Round 1 against Detroit. Can the Pistons' defense and intensity carry them deep, or will offensive firepower be the difference? We're about to find out.
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