RISING: Detroit Pistons Duo Cade Cunningham & Jalen Duren SHOW UP in All-Star Game MAGIC
Detroit Pistons shine in the NBA All-Star Game as Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and coach JB Bickerstaff power Team Pistons DNA to a tourney victory. Ku Khahil spotlights electrifying moments—Cunningham’s elite playmaking, Duren’s rim protection and putback slams, and defensive heroics against Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Pistons fans finally see their stars command the big stage, raising questions about the team’s emergence in the Eastern Conference.
The debate over NBA tanking heats up: Is it a necessary path for small-market teams like the Pistons to land franchise players? Ku Khahil unpacks the impact of potential draft reforms, using Detroit’s rebuild as a prime example. Plus, a razor-sharp breakdown of Jalen Duren’s breakout season and his case for a max contract. What does this mean for the Pistons’ future? Get the inside track on Detroit’s strategy, player development, and their journey from basement dwellers to contenders.
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39 Comments
What made this year’s All-Star Game more entertaining to you as a fan?
Wemby and the Americans 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The All Star game is slow, despicable and confusing waste of time.No one plays basketball….😮😮
Was the best all star game in years 💯
The Pistons finished bad, but they never did tank!
48 million a year is crazy.
Duren doesn't score enough to earn more than. $37.5 a year.
Way to represent DEEETROIT BASKETBALLL at the All Star Game fellas
Cade going to be starting PG at next olympics
I liked the commentators way better this year, instead of Kevin hart talking trash about how bad the game is on the arena speaker. They did a better job treating the game with respect.
Cade is from Arlington /Dallas not Houston btw 🙂
I agree the tanking thing is way overblown
Glad Cade naturally became the point guard that was nice to see and JD did his job it was fun
Ku, your top 5 suggestion is a helluva basis. If they expand the playoffs or use that stupid early season tourney as incentive there’s something there. I don’t know what but would love the commentary for ideas.
1st Listen. What's good Ku. I hear you on the tanking take but all I gotta say is, the Pistons should've had Wemby. You finish with the worst record ever, and don't get the number 1 pick. Why? Because we just got Cade? I hate the rigging of the draft more than a team tanking. Orlando got back 2 back number 1 picks. Cleveland got back 2 back number 1 picks. But not Detroit. Why? Because they flat out wanted Wemby to follow Tim Duncan who followed David Robinson playing for Pop in San Antonio. A great story for the NBA. I hate rigging more than tanking.
The pistons didn't tank. They were just bad. There's a difference.
Tanking didn’t help the Pistons all that much since they got hosed twice out of the top picks
Pistons didn’t tank to get Cade. We were just ass. Losing games due to talent vs actively trying to lose games is completely different. Kill, Stew, Jerami and Saddiq were trying to win…
Utah fans are watching Utah… do you think they don’t have loyal season ticket holders? Pistons have been horrid with a loyal fan base… they spend cheese to see them play and they are taking your money and not trying to compete? That is crazy
You CAN’T end the draft! Tanking teams should lose a number of balls or pushed a number of spots down if tanking can be proven. In cases of blatant tanking teams should be pushed out of the lottery. Declaring every potential draftee a free agent? Organizations will throw bags of money at them under the table to encourage them join their team. Will the rookie salary remain the same? Will they limit the amount of rookie “free agents” a team can sign?
Tanking isn’t an issue, who cares? The NBA is just using this as an excuse to make changes that give them more leverage.
Get rid of the lottery, draft order by record. It’s that’s simple.
Silver is genuinely so fickle, any media crying he takes to heart and ruins things
Wasn't sure about the format at first but found it to be more competitive than past All Star games. Thought Cade and J.D. played well!
How can we not love our Coach and our two All-Stars all on the same team and in an actual battle of Detroit Versus Everyone, and they actually won? In a call back to the East teams with Chauncy, Rip, Ben, and Sheed, our current Pistons guys had them playing like a TEAM.
They have to do something about how bad they are tanking now. Same with load management. To do nothing is a bad idea
2022 draft class, start of last year some people thought Duren could be gone and Ivey was looking to be an all star. Now Duren is looking to get a max deal and maybe an all nba team while Ivey is gone when the team could've tried to go under on Duren. That knee injury really messed things up man. Fuck Cole Anthony forever (even if Ivey left while being healthy wouldn't have been traded for as low as he was)
their chemistry with Cade is significant!
Cade and Hali gonna be generational scoring and passing duo in the olympic team
The only way to get rid of tanking and give every team the same opportunity is, have one last lottery, of all 30 teams. Then rotate pics every year after, whoever picks first this year goes 2nd next year, 3rd the following year, and so on.
Duren is worth about $20M per, incredibly overrated
There's tanking and there's TANKING. Pistons shed pricey veterens and played the young players. I thought that was called the bottoming out phase of rebuilding.
13:55 Factssssssss
14:35 Small markets would be DEAD
16:26 NAHHHHHHHH that shit was rigged for dallas to trade luka to LA idc
Duren will prove in the playoffs that he's not worth anywhere near what you're suggesting
Best all star game since Kobe
cade > brunson its so easy lol.
Tanking didn't work the year that Wemby was drafted. Fix that rigged lottery.
Any solution I've heard seems like itd make the problem worse. What is the real reason why teams tank? Its because finding a franchise player is so important and difficult in the NBA. There is significant incentive to improve your draft position, more than other sports.
I fell like the lottery has caused more issues. Wemby draft? 14 teams are told they have a shot to get him, and the worse you are the better your odds. If there was no lottery, only a few teams are tanking.
Also, i feel like limiting the years you get a top 5 pick hurts bad teams more than not. Imagine the pistons are the worst team in the league because their gm is horrible (hah). Then they fall to the 5th pick (haha). And now theyre not allowed a top 5 pick the following year no matter how bad they are. I don't see how this helps the REAL problem, which is bad teams getting talent so they are no longer bad. Keeping bad teams bad is worse than tanking imo
You gotta be in love with Ausar to think he’s getting a Max contract averaging 8pts KU…… I know you love him but you think they going to give him the max NOT knowing his offensive ability?????? NO! I just don’t think so. He’s great at defense I won’t take that from him but I don’t think he’s getting a max