Top Stories Detroitâs stunning surge: Pistons enter post-All-Star play with the NBAâs best record The Pistons, led by All-Stars Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, have the best record in the NBA at 40-13. Tim Reynolds | The Associated Press February 17, 2026 5:01 PM Pistonsâ All-Stars Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren helped lead USA Stars to victory at the 75th NBA All-Star Game. (AP) â The Detroit Pistons had the worst record in franchise history at the All-Star break four years ago. And two years ago, their record at the break was even worse. Look at them now. When the NBA starts post-All-Star play on Thursday, the Pistons â a franchise that last won a playoff series in 2008 â will start the night with the best record in the league, a smidge ahead of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Detroit is 40-13, Oklahoma City 42-14. The Thunder were expected to be here. The Pistons probably werenât. How Detroit finishes, and if it can hold on to that top spot, is one of the intriguing storylines for the stretch run of the NBA season â with two-thirds of the year complete and teams now set to sprint toward the playoffs or sprint toward the bottom in search of better lottery odds. âWeâre just going to run our race,â Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham said. âWe like where weâre at, and weâre going to continue to try to finish our season strong.â Leaving @NBAAllStar weekend with a dubâźď¸ pic.twitter.com/EqRbx2uiAq â Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) February 16, 2026 Thereâs a lot to like about the Pistons going into the home stretch. They havenât been prone to any sort of real slide yet; theyâre 11-2 after a loss and are one of only three teams (Oklahoma City and San Antonio are the others) yet to have a losing streak of more than two games. They donât get blown out; they have a league-low three losses by 10 points or more. Theyâre a league-best 17-6 against teams who were at .500 or better. Playoff basketball awaits in Detroit, and for the first time since 2008 there should be a Game 1 of a postseason series at home for the Pistons. Plenty of other teams â the Thunder, Boston, New York, San Antonio, Denver, Houston, Cleveland â are probably safe to call playoff locks at this point as well. The next two months will tell the tale of which teams find their way either into Round 1 or will be trying to land the No. 1 draft pick instead. âItâs been hard. Itâs been a long journey so far, but just going to work every day, finding ways to connect with my teammates, connect with the city the best I can, and bring wins to the city,â Cunningham said. âThatâs what the city respects and loves is people that go out there and compete every day. There were times they didnât like how we played. We figured it out, and now we have something going, something building. Just have to keep going now.â Related Power Rankings: The home stretch begins The season is 67% complete, teams have an average of 27 games remaining, and the home stretch begins on Thursday. The Athletic: Cade's HS experiences forged him into Pistons' leader "Just trying to connect with people, I think I've always had that in me, but it started in high school," says Cade Cunningham. The Athletic: A Roman holiday bonded Cunningham and Duren The pair spent time together in Colorado and Dallas, too, but their Rome excursion was on another level. Starting 5: All-Star Game delivers thrills in L.A. Anthony Edwards leads USA Stars to an All-Star Game title as the new U.S. vs. World format delivers.
Detroitâs stunning surge: Pistons enter post-All-Star play with the NBAâs best record
