MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – NOVEMBER 22: Cade Cunningham #2 of the Detroit Pistons talks with head coach J.B. Bickerstaff during the fourth quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum on November 22, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
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When Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff arrived in “The Motor City,” he inherited a team that had spent the previous season suffering through a 28-game losing streak. That’s the longest drought without a win in NBA history.
While a traumatic experience like that leaves a scar, it also sharpens fortitude. It increases how far an individual or a group will push for perseverance, and in this case, it built an unbreakable bond.
The Pistons have utilized those intangibles as a springboard, propelling themselves to the top of the Eastern Conference. They’re 16-4, the best record in the East and the second-best mark in the Association.
Detroit’s cornerstones, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, missed time due to injury. Some of their top rotation players went out for the same reason. Yet, as they’ve done since putting that historic losing streak in the rear view, the Pistons overcame.
How the Pistons moved forward
Not a team to indulge in excuses, despite dealing with injuries, Detroit rattled off 13 straight wins. That matched a franchise record. It took until the Boston Celtics narrowly escaped with a 117-114 victory to prevent them from extending that streak longer than any team in the organization’s history had before.
Before that tilt tipped off at TD Garden, Bickerstaff detailed the conversations and the camaraderie that allowed the Pistons to move past that scarring 2023-24 season and focus on the ascent that has turned them into one of the top teams in the East.
“They didn’t quit, and that was the main thing,” voiced Bickerstaff. “They didn’t complain. They didn’t ask for dramatic changes. They came in the next year and went to work. And as difficult as I’m sure that year was for them, it bonded them in a way that there’s no other situation that could have done that, right? When you go through what they went through, it was literally them against everybody. And I think they got so much closer because of it. So that when we came in, they already had that, right? The chemistry is there. You see how they treat each other. How they interact with one another. And then it was just about helping them take steps forward.
That meant sharing his journey with them.
Before relocating to Detroit, Bickerstaff had just spent six years with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He started as their associate head coach. When John Beilein resigned, Bickerstaff seized the reins. He held them for the rest of that 2019-20 campaign, then for another four years.
His time in Cleveland ended after a second-round exit in 2023-24, courtesy of the Celtics, who went on to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy later that summer. The Cavaliers relieved Bickerstaff of his duties despite dealing with injuries to Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen that postseason.
It was an exit he didn’t shy from discussing with his new team.
“The first thing we did was, we talked about, all of us, myself included, how we ended up here, and how that wasn’t going to impact anything we were gonna do moving forward together. And we just put it in the past,” said Bickerstaff.
Focused on maximizing their promising present, the Pistons are plenty capable of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. And with a young core, led by Cunningham, 24, and Duren, 22, they’re in a position to keep it that way for years to come.