Cade Cunningham with the Pistons, Feb. 19, 2022. Photo by Erik Drost, CC-BY-2.0, resized.

WhyNBA Interactive

From 28 straight losses to a 23-0 run

Three seasons ago the Detroit Pistons won 14 games. On Tuesday night they opened the NBA season by erasing a 22-point deficit against Boston. Here is how the franchise climbed from the bottom of the league to the top of the East, step by step.

Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Photo by Michael Barera, CC-BY-SA-4.0, cropped and resized.

Chapter 1

Twenty-eight in a row

Detroit won 17 games in 2022-23 and finished with the worst record in the NBA. The next season was worse.

The Pistons won on Oct. 28, 2023, and then did not win again for two months. They lost 28 games in a row, the longest losing streak inside a single NBA season and a tie for the longest in league history, matching the 76ers’ run across 2014-15 and 2015-16.

0straight losses, ending Dec. 28, 2023

0wins in 2023-24, fewest in the league

0straight playoff losses dating to 2008

The streak ended on Dec. 30, 2023, with a 129-127 home win over Toronto. Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in 2021, had 30 points and 12 assists without a turnover. Detroit finished 14-68.

“The only way around it is through it, you know? You kind of have to go through the adversity. You can’t run away from it or hide from it.”

— Cade Cunningham, October 2026

Cade Cunningham drives against the Indiana Pacers

Cade Cunningham drives against Indiana, Nov. 29, 2024. Photo by Navin75, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.

Chapter 2

Tripling the wins

J.B. Bickerstaff took over as coach in the summer of 2024. In his first season Detroit went 44-38, a 30-win jump, and became the first NBA team to triple its win total from the previous season in an 82-game schedule.

Pistons regular-season wins

2021-2223

2022-2317

2023-2414

2024-2544

2025-2660

Cunningham averaged 26.1 points and 9.1 assists, made his first All-Star team and was named third-team All-NBA, the first Piston on an All-NBA team since Blake Griffin in 2018-19.

Detroit reached the playoffs for the first time since 2019. A 100-94 win at Madison Square Garden in Game 2 ended a 15-game playoff losing streak that went back to May 26, 2008. The Knicks won the series in six.

Jalen Duren against Houston, Jan. 23, 2026. Photo by Pikraken, CC-BY-4.0, cropped and resized.

Chapter 3

Sixty wins and the top seed

Last season the Pistons went 60-22 and finished first in the Eastern Conference, four games ahead of Boston. Their longest winning streak was 13 games.

The jump was built on defense. Detroit allowed 109.6 points a game, third-fewest in the league, and its defensive rating was second only to one team.

Points allowed per 100 possessions

2023-24118.8

2024-25113.1

2025-26109.7

0points a game for Cunningham

0assists a game, second in the NBA

0rebounds a game for Jalen Duren

0steals a game for Ausar Thompson

Duren averaged 19.5 points on 65% shooting, made his first All-Star team and was named third-team All-NBA. After a summer-long contract standoff, he signed a five-year, $200 million deal on Oct. 1.

Ausar Thompson with Detroit, Jan. 25, 2026. Photo by Pikraken, CC-BY-4.0, resized.

Chapter 4

Two seven-game series

The top seed nearly went out in the first round. Eighth-seeded Orlando won three of the first four games.

Apr. 27Magic win Game 4 and lead the series 3-1.
Apr. 29Cunningham scores 45 on 13-of-23 shooting and 14-of-14 at the line; Detroit wins 116-109.
May 1Pistons win Game 6 93-79 to force a seventh game.
May 3Detroit wins Game 7 116-94 and advances.
May 5-7Pistons beat Cleveland in the first two games of the second round.
May 9-13Cavaliers win three straight.
May 15Detroit wins Game 6 115-94.
May 17Cleveland wins Game 7 125-94 in Detroit.

0points a game for Cunningham in 14 playoff games

0his high, in Game 5 against Orlando

Cunningham had 13 points and missed all seven of his threes in Game 7. Detroit finished one win short of the conference finals.

J.B. Bickerstaff. Photo by Erik Drost, CC-BY-2.0, resized.

Chapter 5

Twenty-three to nothing

Detroit opened the 2026-27 season at home against Boston on Oct. 20. Paul George, in his Celtics debut, hit three straight threes early in the third quarter, and Boston led 72-50 with 8:32 left in the period.

The Pistons were still down 99-89 with 8:19 to play. Then Duncan Robinson hit two threes and three free throws, Javonte Green put Detroit ahead for good at 101-99, and Green’s own fifth three made it 112-99 with 3:33 left.

0unanswered points in under five minutes

0point deficit erased

0second-half points, to Boston’s 55

Detroit won 121-113 in front of 20,178 fans. Cunningham and Duren scored 22 apiece, Robinson had 21 with five threes and Green scored all 19 of his points after halftime. The league said no team had finished a 20-point comeback on the first day of a season since 1997.

“We’ve seen the bottom. A lot of guys are new here, but we’ve seen the bottom. So we’re not afraid of it.”

— Jalen Duren, after the opener

In three seasons the Pistons have gone from 14 wins to 44 to 60, and from the longest losing streak of any single NBA season to a 23-0 run on opening night.

The next stop is Miami on Friday, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m. ET, which is 3 a.m. Saturday in Cairo.

Interactive: From 28 straight losses to a 23-0 run — the Pistons’ climb, step by step