Last season, the Houston Rockets were the NBA’s surprise team. Their young core was ahead of schedule and banded together to snag the No. 2 seed in the West.

This year, the Detroit Pistons are trying to take a similar leap and they have done so with great success so far. Three weeks into the new season, they lead the East with a 7–2 record off the strength of their ongoing five-game winning streak. Like the previous year’s Rockets, Detroit’s roster is young—five of their top six players in terms of total minutes played are 24 years old or younger.

The Pistons returned to the playoffs last year for the first time since 2019, and they have made it clear that they want more.

24-year-old Cade Cunningham made his first NBA All-Star game last season and is again setting the tone. Detroit will only go as far as the 6-foot-6 guard takes them, and he has been nothing short of superb. Through nine games, he has essentially matched his numbers from last year—25.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 9.7 assists—despite being the focus of opposing defenses.

What’s made the difference for this team though is their defense.

Detroit ranks second in defensive rating, behind only the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, and are also second in offensive rebounding percentage. Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland II have set the tone on this end of the floor, reviving the hard-nosed identity that defined the franchise at its peaks in the 1980s and 2000s.

Duren has been the headliner for them inside the paint, bumping up his averages to 19.2 points on 64.3% shooting, 11.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in just 26 minutes a night. The 21-year-old center already has two 30-point games this season after posting just one over the previous three campaigns. His maturity—most evident in his improved patience and decision-making—has pushed him into the conversation as one of the league’s best young centers in the NBA.

The pick-and-roll duo of Cunningham and Duren is steadily becoming one of the NBA’s most lethal and they have already begun receiving lofty comparisons to the all-time greats.

If Detroit can continue playing defense at this level, then this jump of theirs is no mirage. The East is wide open this season and a deep playoff run is not entirely out of the question for this team. Cunningham and Duren have the potential to become franchise legends and the potential of players such as Thompson, Steward, and Holland should not be overlooked.

The Eastern Conference has been warned: The Pistons are back.