The Pistons don’t plan on being ‘super aggressive’ this summer, even with the East expected to be wide open

The Eastern Conference is going to have a very different look in the 2025-26 season. With Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard all expected to miss the season after tearing their Achilles in the playoffs, the Celtics, Pacers and Bucks all face extreme uphill climbs to being legitimate threats to win the East. 

That leaves the Cavaliers and Knicks as the leading favorites in the conference, but both of those teams have their own postseason questions to answer with New York changing coaches and the Cavs fresh off another disappointing early exit. The door appears to be open for some other teams to get in the mix and become a serious factor next season, and we’ve already seen the Orlando Magic recognize that and make a major move by trading for Desmond Bane. 

While it seems like the perfect time to cash in some assets and try to load up for a run, the Detroit Pistons are taking a more patient approach. Trajan Langdon met with the media on Tuesday and explained that their plan is leaning on internal development and trying to re-sign their own free agents this summer rather than being “super aggressive.”

“We’re not going to be super aggressive this summer I don’t think, I don’t foresee any of that,” Langdon said. “It’s just developing from within and hopefully keep the guys we brought in last year.”

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The Pistons have been floated as a team that could be pursuing a stretch big this summer, with rumors linking them to Myles Turner and Naz Reid, but it sounds like they’re not going to make that kind of splashy addition. Instead, they’ll look to re-sign Malik Beasley and Dennis Schröder, with a bigger question being whether they bring back Tim Hardaway Jr. (and at what number). 

It’s fair to wonder if the Pistons should be more aggressive this summer given the apparent opportunity next year in the East, but there isn’t a clear trade to be made that takes them to the next level. We saw the Magic address an obvious need by trading for Bane to give them much-needed shooting and secondary creation in the backcourt. The Pistons’ needs aren’t as acute, and as such it’s understandable that they’d want to wait until they at least see what this group looks like to star their second season together under J.B. Bickerstaff before making a major move. 

They can spin Jaden Ivey’s return as their “big addition” of the offseason, and with Cade Cunningham looking like a superstar, they know they’ll at least be competitive to start the season and can figure out what their more specific needs are from there. They’ll make some smaller moves on the margins to fill out depth, but anything significant will have to wait until the trade deadline or next summer — if at all.