Detroit Pistons Colors

Serene and calm, Pebble is a pale-tone blue-grey shade – picture a cool calming riverbank where the pebbles have been washed clean to the point of blue by the fast-moving clear water.The intelligent blend of pigments of blue, black and a hint of magenta is what creates this tranquil shade. Its subtleness makes it perfect for rooms and spaces to unwind whilst retaining great light characteristics. The Detroit Pistons logo has red, blue, gray, and white colors and a red basketball object with the team name on it and a blue and gray outline around it. The Detroit Pistons logo meaning symbolizes the club name and the sport of basketball. The Detroit Pistons jersey colors are red, blue, and white. The Detroit Pistons uniform has last been changed in 2001. The Detroit Pistons jersey in an image format can be found below.

The Detroit Pistons logo font is a custom Detroit Pistons typeface. The Detroit Pistons font is used for jersey lettering, player names, numbers, team logo, branding, and merchandise.

A replica of the road uniforms the Pistons donned from 1996-2001, the Pistons Classic Edition jersey is teal with black, yellow, and red trim on a teal jersey that features the famed flaming horsehead.The uniforms are colored green, matching the gym’s historic logo, with white and blue stripes down the side. The quote inscribed on the court floor at The Saint — “Where stars are made, not born” — is featured on the anthem of the jersey, along with Big Sean’s signature and a trio of stars on the jersey alludes to this message, while symbolizing the Pistons’ three NBA Championships. This jersey will be worn exclusively for the 2022-23 NBA season.

The uniforms feature “DET” across the chest in white lettering, with blue and red stripes across the jersey which pay homage to the warmup up tops the Pistons wore during the late 80’s and early 90’s.Expressed in white with lettering and numbers standing out in Pistons red and blue, the Association Edition is equally as renowned as the Icon Edition.

Former Piston Earl Cureton, a Detroit native and the team’s community ambassador, serves on the board for Ceciliaville and played at the gym years ago. Stories about the gym from Cureton, along with other Pistons-associated former NBA players such as Greg Kelser, helped start the discussion for the franchise to honor the gym back in 2020.Detroit-raised rap superstar Big Sean, the Pistons’ creative director of innovation since December 2020, collaborated on the jersey design. His signature is on the bottom right of the jersey, under the quote. The team will wear the uniforms, now available for purchase, six times this season.

Ceciliaville board chair and former Detroit Police chief Isaiah McKinnon said the new uniforms show the Pistons’ commitment to the city of Detroit; he hopes they spread awareness of the gym’s importance.“I remember Sam Washington sitting right there at that door in a chair,” Kelser said. “He collected those dollars and everything from people coming in. They paid because they knew that they could pay a dollar and you might see 10 games if you’re willing to stay that long. Whether you knew it or not, you would see future great players in high school, college, pro, all of that. It’s sort of like a club, if you will.

“An unofficial basketball club. And certainly had its who’s whos as well. Gervin gets the most note because he would plug this area. There would be no place to park. It’s amazing how they would pack people in here, just standing shoulder to shoulder from here, there, and even at times, along the wall before they had that padding just to get as many people in as possible, and see these great players play.”

In addition to the new uniform, the Pistons are also partnering with JDS Sports and The Knight Foundation to commit $250,000 toward renovating St. Cecilia’s gym. In 2021, the Pistons partnered with Ceciliaville — a nonprofit aiming to preserve the gym and bringing athletic programing, job training and more to the city. The jerseys will continue those efforts, as a portion of the jersey sales will be donated to Ceciliaville. The Pistons are paying their respects to the unofficial mecca of Detroit basketball. On Thursday morning, the team unveiled their new St. Cecilia-inspired City Edition uniforms. The jerseys, which were exclusively revealed to the Free Press ahead of their unveiling, are green with white and blue stripes down the sides. The quote “Where stars are made, not born” — written on St. Cecilia’s court — adorns the bottom right corner of the uniform. A trio of stars representing that message, along with the Pistons’ three championships, are located above the “D” in Detroit on the front of the jersey and on the shorts.Fans would pack the un-air conditioned gym to watch. It wasn’t always clear who would participate in pickup games on any given day. But fans and young players alike knew the odds of seeing a current or future star were high.“There’s some people wearing shirts right now that say ‘Detroit Vs. Everybody,’ ” McKinnon said. “We want to have the vision that St. Cecilia is the hub of so much that happened in the city of Detroit and will continue to happen. That’s what we hope that the jersey will do, and to build up this location where it continues to grow. That’s what we’re looking for.”“To walk in this building and see Dave Bing, George Gervin, sometimes Darryl Dawkins, all of the guys that were pros, or going to be pros, it was like Christmas,” Romulus High School and Eastern Michigan alumnus, and 15-year NBA pro Grant Long told the Free Press at St. Cecilia last Thursday. “You came in here, you had no idea what you were going to see or what you were going to get, how competitive it was going to be. It was just a treat every time you walked in the door.”

“Them telling us those stories, I think has served as huge inspiration and solidifies or validates our reason why this is a story we need to tell because it’s one of those things where it’s unwritten history,” Jeffreys said. “If we don’t tell the history, nobody will really know what stories because I think it was a sacred place from everything Earl says to us, where people didn’t videotape, there aren’t a ton of photographs because it was just a place people went. It wasn’t about the media, there was no social media. If we don’t tell the story, nobody will actually know what happened there.”Another notable rival of the Detroit Pistons is the Cleveland Cavaliers. This rivalry has emerged more recently, starting in the early 2000s when both teams faced each other in several playoff series. The Pistons and the Cavaliers have a fierce competition on the court, and their games are always intense and hard-fought. The Detroit Pistons are wearing green as part of the NBA’s “Green Week” initiative, which is an annual league-wide celebration of sustainability and environmental responsibility. During Green Week, teams wear special green jerseys and participate in various events and initiatives to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the environment. The Detroit Pistons team logo has 5 colors. The official Detroit Pistons colors of the logo are Royal blue, red, gray, navy blue and white. This logo is used by Detroit Pistons officially.

The Detroit Pistons have changed their colors several times throughout their history. The team was originally established in 1941 and was known as the Fort Wayne Pistons. The team’s original colors were red, white, and blue. In 1957, the team moved to Detroit and changed its name to the Detroit Pistons. The team also changed its colors to blue and red.

The green jerseys worn by the Detroit Pistons, along with the green jerseys worn by other teams during Green Week, are made from recycled materials and are designed to be more environmentally friendly than traditional jerseys.

The Detroit Pistons have several rivals in the NBA, but one of their biggest rivals is the Chicago Bulls. The rivalry between these two teams dates back to the late 1980s and early 1990s when both teams were contenders in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons and the Bulls have faced each other in several intense playoff series, and their games are always characterized by a high level of physical play and a fierce determination to win. The official Detroit Pistons team colors are Royal blue, red, gray, navy blue and white. The color codes: RGB, CYMK for print, Hex for web and the Detroit Pistons Pantone colors can be seen below. O’Grady: Initially, the logo that they gave to us had maroon, silver, black and might have had a touch of light blue. Just think the Michigan Panthers football team from the USFL. That was going to be their new jersey colors.This is the story of how Detroit’s red, white and blue uniforms transformed into teal, how the basic but effective basketball logo became a horse with pipes, and how both generated the Pistons’ first mascot.

Wilson: They came up with a horsepower idea and it resonated with all of us. We thought it was pretty cool. We didn’t take as much grief over the logo, although anytime you make a change you’re going to have some percentage, whether big or small, that’ll hate whatever you did.Ciszewski: It takes two years to switch jerseys and logos. That’s the rules within the league because of manufacturing and how much inventory there is out there. They don’t want to stick teams with a lot of inventory. That’s why a player changing his number has to wait a certain period.

Craig Turnbull, Pistons vice president of branding in early 2000s: When you say sales, obviously there are many aspects of sales for a professional sports team. One of them is that you sell some jerseys. The bigger concern is connection with fans. And if you connect with fans — and you do need to win, wins and losses do matter — if it misses the mark in terms of a connection with the fans, then you’re headed backward. I’m afraid that’s probably what happened. As much as it was well-intended by the league and the Pistons to provide a fresh, new look and feel … you’re in one of America’s great blue-collar cities, extended north, of course, in Auburn Hills, and teal is not really what would be considered a strong color.Hill: I had only been there for two years. I just thought it was a little odd or weird. It’s nothing I went and complained about to management. You want us to wear this? Let’s go.

O’Grady: So, we (the NBA) were working with a couple different designers, and I was overseeing this concept for a hood ornament for the Pistons. We had a hood-ornament idea which is really cool, you know, this kind of 1910, 1920 Rolls-Royce idea. We were doing something that was to link to that kind of “Bad Boys” thing. I think it was a skull and crossbones, but it was in the shape of a nut on the top … a six-sided wing nut with two wrenches underneath it. So, instead of bones, it was wrenches, and then it was in a black circular shape with a gear on the outside, almost like the Bachman-Turner Overdrive logo. Tom O’Grady, NBA creative director in the 1990s: This was definitely driven by the team, though. They’re the ones soliciting us to do it. … I think with the Pistons, I think that they had just maybe grown a little tired of that, you know, 1989-90 “Bad Boys” look. And the league, I don’t think, was really all ever that excited about that. David Stern wasn’t the biggest fan of, you know, encouraging teams to wear skulls and crossbones or doing things like that, for good reasons. Wilson: We were red, white and blue. We were classic. My recollection was that Joe Dumars, more than anyone, hated (the new colors). He just thought that the red, white and blue were classic. … I believe people thought they were a little soft. This is Detroit, and we’re not soft.

Around 1994, with the Pistons’ famed “Bad Boys” era no more, the organization was looking for a fresh start. Detroit was no longer at the NBA pinnacle. It had a new franchise player in Grant Hill. Slowly but surely, the Pistons were transitioning to a new era — a teal era. Wilson: We brought some people in, looked at a variety of colors and, at that time, there were varieties of teal, and we had our group of five or six that looked at colors. The color that it came out to be wasn’t the one we thought we selected. We thought we picked a deeper blue than the one we got. James L. Edwards III is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Detroit Pistons. Previously, he was a reporter for the Lansing State Journal, where he covered Michigan State and high school sports. Follow James L. on Twitter @JLEdwardsIIIO’Grady: Mitchell and Ness really started this again because they started pulling stuff out of the mothballs about five or six years ago and were like, “OK, we’re going to redo the Vince Carter Raptors jersey,” and it’s selling like crazy. They can’t keep it in stock, like the Mike Bibby Grizzlies jersey and the Grant Hill Pistons jersey. All of a sudden that stuff is flying off the shelves again after all this time.

O’Grady: Here’s the dividing line: I’m on a Facebook page and you show the Raptors uniform on there, the original, and it’s “Like, Hate or Love.” And the hate comes from anybody over 50 who loves the Celtics uniform or who loves the Lakers uniforms or loves the Spurs uniforms or loves the Bulls uniforms. … And then you have the people 40 years and under, the millennials, that are like, “Boring, drab, those suck,” you know? It’s because they grew up and were wearing the Charlotte Hornets Starter jacket or the Orlando Magic Starter jacket. Those kids have come of age and their recall and memories are all about this bright, in-your-face NBA stuff, the “I Love This Game” era. That’s their brand. That’s who they are. It’s like your father’s Oldsmobile, those older uniforms. And, really, that’s the dividing line.Around that time, the San Jose Sharks had just exploded with their teal uniforms, and the Dolphins had theirs. We just, sort of, looked at that color and at the same time were looking at a new logo. We thought we’d roll them all out together. We had a young team. Grant had just got there and Allan Houston had been there for a little. We thought he’d be there for a long time, too. And, yeah, it didn’t go as well as we would have liked.

It was cool. It was very flat. It was very simple. It was very much almost like what the Denver Nuggets went with this year, like a more iconic graphic — nothing like what they presented to us with this, like, really big horsepower idea. That was all driven by them, this concept of horsepower.

O’Grady: The Charlotte Hornets started it all. They were the leaders. Alexander Julian, the fashion designer, who was kind of an outsider in that category and in that business in 1988, came up with that concept, but that predated me — I wasn’t even there yet. But that was the one that really set the world on fire when it came to teal, and everybody else was an imitator. The Marlins, the Sharks and the Jaguars. The Grizzlies were turquoise, so the Grizzlies were not teal if you look at their color carefully. It’s a different shade altogether.

O’Grady: I think the NBA made a big mistake. I think when Nike came on board, they started overthinking all this stuff and forgot that they’re in sports entertainment and worry too much about the precision of a backstory and a hype video and, you know, how they’re going to sell the merchandise and how they’re going to reduce the manual manufacturing costs. So, I think Nike screwed up about a 15-year era for NBA uniforms. I think everything is so bland and predictable and nothing that, you know, energized the eyes. Basketball, more than anything, is the most sports-entertainment brand on the planet. I mean, I felt like they were going into this intramural style for a sport that does not need that. That’s not who they are.

Turnbull: When we took away the teal, we still had to keep elements of the logo. … In hockey, one of the greatest places to make that change is at center ice, so we made that change at center court. It was part of a far bigger evolution within the organization. We changed all the way down to the uniforms our staff wore inside the arena. They went to a red, white and blue work-looking shirt. It was a neatly pressed Oxford. It flushed through the entire organization. … And the big thing is that we started winning. I told a guy earlier that this isn’t a story we’re talking about if we didn’t win the championship in 2004.

Billy Berris, Detroit artist, co-creator of the “Bad Boys” logo and visual co-creator of the Pistons’ horse logo: The color combinations I had given (the NBA) were incorporating some of the color combinations from the “Bad Boys” logo. I was doing it with some silver, black, orange, maroon and glitter, especially because of the tailpipes and design there. That’s what I submitted to the NBA, and when they came back with those teal colors, Tom (Wilson) called me and I looked at it, laughed and said, “I’m not too happy with those colors.”O’Grady: That was all driven by them, this concept of horsepower. … It was fine because, hey, you know, the final decisions were always left up to Tom Wilson, who takes it up to (then-Pistons owner) Bill Davidson. They were the ones running the show. And we didn’t have really any … we didn’t have any reluctance doing it.

When I originally called and spoke to someone at the creative department, I told them who I was. I got to the right person and said to them, “I saw that you submitted some different colors on the design and that’s not what I put down. I’m curious, why did you change it?” That person said, “We have a whole creative art department and we think this is the color scheme that we’re going with.” I’m thinking to myself, “How creative are you? You spent three months trying to come up with a logo for the Pistons that they didn’t like.” They said, “Well, we don’t usually pay outside people for their service, we do it in-house.” I said, “Well, you’re going outside now.” He said we’ll offer you $500. I said to the guy, “$500?” Just like that. I said, “$500 is not going to get it done.” I already know that the NBA accepted the logo and the Pistons wanted it. I told them they need to come back to me. I was pretty insulted. Also, after we agreed upon a much larger amount, I talked to Tom about doing a secondary logo, because they had tailpipes and the horse head over the basketball. They had a contest for the name of the mascot.

Ciszewski: I think it was timing, too. We were coming off the “Bad Boys” years, had some tough years and people clamor for the good ol’ days. I just think the timing wasn’t necessarily right for us to come out with the teal jersey. Teal just didn’t seem like hardworking, blue-collar Detroit.O’Grady: The teal, so … listen: I was semi-against it, and the other option I would have presented would have been black. I think if you take that design and just flip it and make it a black design with the horse head, that would have been ridiculous and badass.

Berris: We came up with that and the mascot, Hooper, as well. When I sat down with Tom (Wilson), he said, “Listen, Billy. In terms of being compensated for the logo, I have to negotiate that with the NBA because they would have the rights to it.” He told the NBA that he worked with a company here and that we did something he really liked. The reason that those colors got put on hold, as I recall, was because we were doing work for the Sacramento Kings at the exact same time, and they were completely locked into maroon, gold and black with a touch of light blue, like the 49ers — which is why they didn’t go with it after all, because after we presented that to them, they’re like, “This is so cool, but we think a little bit too much like the 49ers.” So, we shifted to the purple, black and silver that you see for the Kings. So, while those colors are being parked for the Kings, the Pistons had to keep moving. The idea, really, the idea and color isn’t a red, it’s more like a cardinal, sunburst yellow color and the teal. Brant: The biggest thing about it was the concept. Tom (Wilson) had said the San Jose Sharks had just came out with their new jersey, a newer team, and people were buying the jersey before they even played their first game. Tom said he wanted some character, something with some teeth, something that the kids could relate to like the Sharks. I remember saying, “Tom, it’s a car part. You guys are the Pistons. You’re not a shark, bro.” The idea of the whole concept was horsepower. I wanted to come up with something that symbolized the automotive world. I spent several weeks, hundreds of sketches, before we came up with this horsepower concept.Hill: I think it’s something that is liked and appreciated more now than it was then. I think, right now, in popular culture, fashion, things from the ’90s are hot. You see it in clothing and shoes. I don’t know who the target demographic is, but I think it’s hot. Young people today like retro, like the story behind it. It was just a short window, five or six years, where the teals were alive. That probably plays a little bit of a role.

Turnbull: You can understand why teams that are stuck in a place are grasping for something to catch people’s attention. They attempted to do that. They probably just missed a little bit.

Hill: That summer was interesting. We had the Olympics and then Allan ended up leaving Detroit (for the Knicks). About a month ago, I sent Allan a picture of us at the unveiling of the new uniforms. That’s the only time he wore the teal uniform.

Berris: I created the Detroit “Bad Boys” logo as well, and when they were going to look for a new logo, I had told Tom Wilson that, if he wanted, I’d be glad to work on it for him. He said, “Right now, the NBA is doing logos, and they’ve sent me some stuff.” I asked him how they looked and he said, “Not so great.” He wasn’t happy with what the NBA was submitting to him.Wilson: After three or four years, it just wasn’t catching on. It takes two years to change, whichever way you’re going. When we went to teal, it took two years to do it, and when we went away from teal, it took two years to do it. The best part of the teal was when we stopped using it, the other stuff became extraordinarily popular. The timing was right because it was just the beginning of the “Goin’ to Work” Pistons. We were able to bring the original colors back as we won the championship.

John Ciszewski, vice president of sales from 1988-2009: What I remember early on is that the NBA, the league office, was encouraging us to look at our jersey, look at our logo. A lot of teams were reinventing themselves at that time, and the “Bad Boys” era was over. I think Joe Dumars was the only crossover. Grant Hill had just come in. We were looking at a fresh start with things. The league did a lot of focus groups and studies, and teal was a hot color back then. I think our mind was made up on what direction we wanted to go, and the league just helped us with the process.

Ciszewski: The “Bad Boys,” when you look back at that, it was such physical basketball, and I think our uniforms represented that. When we went to the teal, you know, you became a softer team, so to speak. I think that’s why a lot of people resented it.

The organization has moved on, though. There are no plans to revive the uniforms synonymous with a gloomy period in Detroit basketball history. That moment will remain, well, a moment.Wilson: At this time also, we had the Detroit Vipers (of the International Hockey League). They were teal and purple. That proved to be a very, very popular jersey as well. A lot of the push was to gear toward the younger fans. You were starting to see some animated logos and even more use of mascots and things like that. The things you do at different times …

Ciszewski: I’m good friends with the merchandising manager for the Pistons, and they brought (the teal) out a few years ago and he said that stuff just flew off the shelves. It’s crazy. I see it all the time at their games.On November 22, 2016, the Pistons officially announced their intention to move to Little Caesars Arena, and the site of The Palace of Auburn Hills was to be redeveloped and sold, with the arena likely to be demolished as part of the redevelopment. The last remaining NBA franchise to play in a suburban location, the Pistons ended their 39 a year stay in Oakland County.The top-seeded Pistons defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 4–1 in the first round of the 2006 NBA playoffs, but struggled in the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers, falling behind 3–2 before winning in seven games. Things did not improve against the second-seeded Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Miami defeated the Pistons in six games en route to the 2006 NBA championship.

After being swept by the Miami Heat in the 2000 playoffs, Joe Dumars, who had retired following the 1998–99 season, was hired as the team’s president of basketball operations. He quickly faced what appeared to be a setback for the franchise, as Grant Hill elected to leave for the Orlando Magic. However, Dumars worked a sign and trade with Orlando that brought the Pistons Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins in exchange for Hill. Both quickly entered the Pistons’ starting lineup. Wallace in particular developed into a defensive stalwart in the coming years. However, Hill played only 47 games in the following three seasons due to a recurring ankle injury.Detroit advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the sixth straight season, squaring off against the Celtics. This put the Pistons second on the all-time list of most consecutive conference finals appearances, behind only the Los Angeles Lakers, who appeared in eight straight conference finals from the 1981–82 to 1988–89 seasons. They lost Game 1 88–79, but won in Game 2 on the road, 103–97, marking the Celtics’ first home court loss in the postseason. Immediately following that, the Celtics won their first road game of the postseason, 94–80, in Game 3. Game 4 saw the Pistons win 94–75. In the pivotal Game 5 they lost 106–102, despite rallying from 17 points down late in the game. In Game 6, the Pistons entered the fourth quarter leading 70–60, but a lack of focus, a poor game from Rasheed Wallace, and a rally-killing turnover by Tayshaun Prince ultimately led to their demise; the Pistons ended their season with an 89–81 loss. In what would ultimately be a bellwether moment in the franchise’s history, Wallace refused to take any post-game questions, simply walking back to the locker room after, aware that Joe Dumars would likely start dismantling the team, saying only “It’s over, man.” After that, the Celtics went on to win the 2008 NBA Finals. On June 3, 2008, the Pistons announced that Flip Saunders would not return as head coach.

Despite losing key members of their bench during the off-season (including Okur, Mike James and Corliss Williamson), the Pistons were considered a strong contender to win a second consecutive title in 2005. They won 54 games during the regular season, their fourth consecutive season of 50 or more wins. During the 2005 playoffs, they easily defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 4–1 and then rallied from a 2–1 deficit to finish off the Indiana Pacers, 4–2. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons faced the Miami Heat. Once again, the Pistons fell behind. However, they ultimately won the series in seven games. In the NBA Finals, the Pistons faced the San Antonio Spurs. After the teams split the first four games of the series, the turning point came at the end of Game 5 in Detroit, which went into overtime. The Pistons were ahead 95–93 when Robert Horry sank the game-winning three-point basket for the Spurs with 5.8 seconds left in the extra session. The Pistons fought back to win Game 6 in San Antonio, setting up the first NBA Finals Game 7 since 1994. The Pistons then lost a hard-fought, low-scoring game to the Spurs, who won their third NBA championship since 1999.At the start of the 2007–08 season, Rasheed Wallace became the Pistons’ new center. Upon entering his third season, Saunders became the longest-tenured Pistons coach since Chuck Daly. Detroit finished the season with the second-best record in the league at 59–23. The Boston Celtics held the first seed, and many speculated that Boston was their main competition in the Eastern Conference. In the 2008 NBA playoffs, Detroit started out poorly with a Game 1 loss to the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers and found themselves in a 2–1 deficit. However, the Pistons rallied to defeat the Sixers in six games.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Pistons were characterized by talented players including George Yardley, Bailey Howell, Dave Debusschere, Dave Bing, and Bob Lanier, questionable trades, and frequent coaching changes. At one point, DeBusschere was the youngest player-coach in the history of the NBA. Then a trade during the 1968–69 season sent DeBusschere to the New York Knicks for Howard Komives and Walt Bellamy, both of whom had their best seasons behind them. DeBusschere became a key player in leading the Knicks to two NBA titles. Howell had previously been dealt to the Baltimore Bullets in 1964 and former Pistons guard Gene Shue, who was the head coach of the Bullets at the time, assessed the Pistons thusly: “Detroit has the worst management in the league.” Howell would go to win two championships as a member of the Boston Celtics. Yardley, Lanier, and Bing all ended their Pistons tenure being traded away, frustrated with the direction and opportunities with Detroit.

With the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, the Pistons selected Jaden Ivey. Later in the first round, the Pistons acquired Jalen Duren via a trade with the New York Knicks. The Pistons finished the 2022–23 season with the worst overall record in NBA and second-worst in franchise history at 17–65. It was their first 60-loss season since 1993–94. After the last game of the season on April 9, 2023, Dwane Casey stepped down as head coach to join the front office. On June 2, 2023, Monty Williams was hired by the Pistons to be their new head coach.The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Little Caesars Arena, located in Midtown Detroit. Founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as a semi-professional company basketball team called the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1937, they would turn pro in 1941 as a member of the National Basketball League (NBL), where they won two NBL championships: in 1944 and 1945. The Pistons later joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1948. The NBL and BAA merged to become the NBA in 1949, and the Pistons became part of the merged league. In 1957, the franchise moved to Detroit. The Pistons have won three NBA championships: in 1989, 1990 and 2004.During the 2005–06 season, the Pistons recorded the NBA’s best overall record. Their 37–5 start exceeded the best start for any Detroit sports franchise in history and tied for the fourth-best start through 42 games in NBA history. Four of the five Pistons starters (Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, and Ben Wallace) were named to the All-Star team, and Flip Saunders served as the Eastern Conference All-Star team coach. The Pistons finished the regular season with a record of 64–18, setting new franchise records for both overall and road victories (27). In addition, the team set an NBA record by starting the same lineup in 73 consecutive games from the start of the season. The season was marked with many controversies and injuries. As a result of this and poor play, the Pistons dropped down the standings, only clinching a playoff berth on April 10, 2009. The Pistons finished the season at 39–43, their first losing season in eight years. The Pistons were then swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games in the first round of the 2009 NBA playoffs. On June 30, 2009, Michael Curry was fired as head coach. Iverson signed with the Memphis Grizzlies during the off-season. Over time, Davidson became displeased with Cobo Arena, but opted not to follow the Red Wings to the under-construction Joe Louis Arena next door. Instead, in 1978, he moved the team to the suburb of Pontiac, where they played in the 82,000 capacity Silverdome, a structure built for professional football (and the home of the Detroit Lions at the time).

Despite the team’s improvement, Rick Carlisle was fired in the 2003 off-season. There were believed to be five reasons for the firing: first, that Carlisle had appeared reluctant to play some of the team’s younger players, such as Prince and Mehmet Okur, during the regular season; second, that some of the players had not gotten along with Carlisle; third, that Carlisle’s offense was thought to be conservative; fourth, that Hall of Famer Larry Brown had become available; and fifth, that Carlisle was rumored to have alienated owner Bill Davidson with his personality. Brown accepted the job that summer.

On April 7, 2011, Karen Davidson, the widow of the late Bill Davidson, reached a long-awaited agreement to sell the franchise to billionaire Tom Gores, which was approved by the NBA Board of Governors in May. The deal also included The Palace of Auburn Hills and DTE Energy Music Theatre. According to Crain’s Detroit Business, the final sale price was $325 million, far lower than expected. In the 2011 NBA draft, the Pistons selected Brandon Knight, Kyle Singler and Vernon Macklin. On March 11, 2020, the 2019–20 season was suspended by the NBA after it was reported that Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. On June 4, 2020, the season came to an end for the Pistons when the NBA Board of Governors approved a plan that would restart the season with 22 teams returning to play in the NBA bubble on July 31, 2020, which was approved by the National Basketball Players Association the next day. The Pistons finished the season with a 20–46 record. Carlisle helped lead the Pistons to their first 50-win season since 1997, and their first playoff series victory since 1991 by defeating the Toronto Raptors in five games. They lost, however, to the Boston Celtics in five games. After starting the 2014–15 season with a 5–23 record, the Pistons waived Josh Smith, who was acquired in the summer of 2013. The team went on a lengthy winning streak, but finished the season with a record of only 32–50 after Brandon Jennings’ Achilles injury. Hooper is the mascot of the Pistons. He is depicted as a horse wearing a Pistons jersey. The symbolism is, that like the pistons they are named after, the team produces horsepower, hence the equine mascot. Hooper became a part of the team on November 1, 1996, replacing Sir Slam A Lot.

The Pistons’ championship run came to an end in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, as they were swept by the eventual NBA champion Chicago Bulls in four games. The most critical injury during this time belonged to Isiah Thomas, who had suffered a wrist injury a few months prior to the NBA playoffs. The Conference Finals is best remembered for the Pistons walking off the court in the last game just before it ended, willingly letting the final seconds tick away, unwilling to shake hands with the Bulls. After the series, Michael Jordan said, “You see two different styles with us and them. The dirty play and the flagrant fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct. Hopefully, that will be eliminated from the game. I think we play clean basketball. We don’t go out and try to hurt people and dirty up the game. You never lose respect for the champions. But I haven’t agreed with the methods they used. I think people are happy the game will get back to a clean game [with a Bulls triumph] and away from the ‘Bad Boy’ image.”

Prior to the 1988–89 season, the Pistons moved to Auburn Hills to play at The Palace of Auburn Hills, the first NBA arena financed entirely with private funds. The 1989 Pistons completed the building of their roster by trading Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre, a trade that Pistons fans criticized heavily initially, but later praised. The team won 63 games, shattering their one-year-old franchise record, and steamrolled through the playoffs and into an NBA Finals rematch with the Lakers. This time, the Pistons came out victorious in a four-game sweep to win their first NBA championship. Joe Dumars was named NBA Finals MVP.The Pistons entered the All-Star break at 27–27. The Pistons surpassed their win totals from the 2009–10 season to the 2014–15 season on March 9, 2016, when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks 102–96. On April 6, 2016, following a 108–104 win over the Orlando Magic, the Pistons reached 42 wins and were assured their first winning season since the 2007–08 season. On April 8, 2016, the Pistons defeated the Washington Wizards 112–99 and clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2009. The eighth-seeded Pistons faced the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2016 NBA playoffs. They were swept in four games in a highly competitive series. Following the 2012–13 season, Frank was fired as head coach on April 18, 2013, after two losing seasons, and on June 10, 2013, the Pistons hired former player and coach Maurice Cheeks. His tenure lasted for just a bit more than half a season, as he was replaced by interim coach John Loyer. In April, the Pistons announced that Joe Dumars would step down as president of basketball operations but remain as an advisor to the organization and its ownership team. On May 14, 2014, Stan Van Gundy was hired. Van Gundy signed a 5-year, $35 million contract to become the head coach and president of basketball operations for the team. On June 18, 2020, the Pistons hired Troy Weaver as the new general manager. The Pistons finished the 2020–21 season with the second-worst record in the league at 20–52, missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The 20 wins were also tied for the second-fewest in franchise history at the time. In the 2021 NBA draft, the Pistons selected Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick. The Pistons finished the 2021–22 season at 23–59, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season.The Pistons hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player’s draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player’s contract with the non-NBA team ends. This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.

There are suggestions that Pistons players conspired with gamblers to shave points and throw various games during the 1953–54 and 1954–55 seasons. In particular, there are accusations that the team may have intentionally lost the 1955 NBA Finals to the Syracuse Nationals. In the decisive Game 7, the Pistons led 41–24 early in the second quarter before the Nationals rallied to win the game. The Nationals won on a free throw by George King with 12 seconds left in the game. The closing moments included a palming turnover by the Pistons’ George Yardley with 18 seconds left, a foul by Frank Brian with 12 seconds left that enabled King’s winning free throw, and a turnover by the Pistons’ Andy Phillip in the final seconds which cost them a chance to attempt the game winning shot. In the following season, the Pistons made it back to the NBA Finals. However, they were defeated by the Philadelphia Warriors in five games.To replace Ben Wallace, the Pistons signed Nazr Mohammed. He struggled to fill the team’s void at center, however, and the team began looking for additional help. On January 16, 2007, the Pistons signed free agent Chris Webber. The Pistons quickly began playing better basketball. They were only 21–15 before Webber was acquired; with him, the team went 32–14. On April 11, the Pistons clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference, which guaranteed them home-court advantage for first three rounds of the playoffs.

The Pistons’ 2004–05 season was marked by a major controversy, as well as distracting issues involving Larry Brown. In the first month of the season, the infamous Malice at the Palace erupted between the Pacers and the Pistons, one of the largest fan-player incidents in the history of American sports. It resulted in heavy fines and suspensions for several players and a great deal of NBA and media scrutiny. Meanwhile, Brown was forced to leave the team on two occasions due to health concerns. During this time, he was the subject of a series of rumors linking him to other job openings. Concerned about Brown’s health and angered over his alleged pursuit of other jobs during the season, the Pistons bought out his contract soon after the 2005 NBA Finals. Brown was promptly named head coach of the New York Knicks, while the Pistons hired Flip Saunders, formerly of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The team had a winning season in 1971, having spent the 1960s below .500, and then had a brief period of sustained success in the mid-1970s, qualifying for the playoffs in four straight seasons (1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977). Hope was then placed in Dick Vitale in 1978, the former head coach at the University of Detroit, but he was fired the following season, and the team limped into the 1980s with a 16–66 record in 1979–80. The 1979–80 team lost its last 14 games of the season which, when coupled with the seven losses at the start of the 1980–81 season, constituted a then-NBA record losing streak of 21 games.In the 2007 NBA draft, the Pistons selected Rodney Stuckey with the 15th overall pick and Arron Afflalo with the 27th overall pick. They also re-signed Chauncey Billups to a long-term contract, as well as top prospect Amir Johnson and key reserve Antonio McDyess. This season marked the 50th anniversary of the franchise in Detroit. Following the 1993–94 season, they were able to draft Grant Hill, a promising small forward, with the third overall pick. However, this period also saw the team make numerous questionable personnel decisions, such as the loss of free agent Allan Houston to the New York Knicks, the signing of free agent washouts Loy Vaught and Bison Dele; and head coaching changes from Ron Rothstein to Don Chaney to Doug Collins to Alvin Gentry to George Irvine in an eight-year span. Of these coaches, only Collins had any sort of success with the Pistons, winning 54 games in the 1996–97 season. The franchise even changed its team colors in 1996 from its traditional red and blue to teal, burgundy, gold and black in what proved to be a highly unpopular move with fans. The only color that did not change was white. This period has become known, often derisively, as the “teal era”. At the start of the 1987–88 season, Al Davis, owner of the then Los Angeles Raiders, sent Raiders merchandise to the Pistons to acknowledge the shared view of the teams and their physical style of play. Dan Hauser, Pistons Vice-President of Marketing said, “Al sent us Raiders sweaters, and when we played Golden State in Oakland, Al had Raiders warm-ups for us with our names and numbers on them. The rough bad-boy fighting style of the Raiders fits our image. That’s why, at our home games at the Palace, you see a sea of black: black caps, black T-shirts, black sweatshirts”.

During the off-season, the Pistons offered Ben Wallace a four-year, $48 million contract, which would have made him the highest-paid player in franchise history at the time. However, Wallace agreed to a 4-year, $60 million contract with the Chicago Bulls.

Though the Pistons enjoyed a solid local following, Fort Wayne’s small size made it difficult for them to be profitable, especially as other early NBA teams based in smaller cities started folding or relocating to larger markets. After the 1956–57 season, Fred Zollner decided that Fort Wayne was too small to support an NBA team and announced the team would be playing elsewhere in the coming season. He ultimately settled on Detroit. Although it was the fifth largest city in the United States at the time, Detroit had not seen professional basketball in a decade. They lost the Detroit Eagles due to World War II, both the Detroit Gems of the NBL (whose remnants became the Minneapolis Lakers) and the Detroit Falcons of the BAA in 1947, and the Detroit Vagabond Kings in 1949. Zollner decided to keep the Pistons name, believing it made sense given Detroit’s status as the center of the automobile industry. George Yardley set the NBA single-season scoring record in the Pistons’ first season in Detroit, becoming the first player to score 2,000 points in a season.The positive view of the team was not universal with Michael Jordan declaring “the Bad Boys are bad for basketball,” later adding “I hated them. And that hate carries even to this day.” David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA at the time, said, “If I had it to do over again, we would be more aggressive in regulating, shall we say, that style of play, because it led to our game becoming much more physical.”Motivated by their loss to the Celtics, the Pistons, aided by midseason acquisition James Edwards, improved to a then-franchise-record 54 victories and the franchise’s first division title in 32 years. In the postseason, the Pistons avenged their two previous playoff losses to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, defeating them in six games and advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since the franchise moved to Detroit.

The Pistons finished the 2017–18 season with a 39–43 record. They missed the playoffs for the eighth time in ten years. On May 7, 2018, the Pistons announced that Stan Van Gundy would not return as head coach and president of basketball operations. On June 11, 2018, Dwane Casey was hired by the Pistons to be their new head coach, agreeing to a five-year deal. The Pistons finished the 2018–19 season with a 41–41 record, clinching a playoff spot as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. In the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs, the Pistons were swept in four games by the Milwaukee Bucks, setting an NBA record for the most consecutive playoff losses with 14.

The Pistons flagship radio station is WXYT-FM. There are several affiliate stations throughout Michigan. The regular radio announcers are Mark Champion with play-by-play and Rick Mahorn with color commentary.The Pistons’ first trip to the Finals in 32 years saw them face the Los Angeles Lakers, who were led by Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After taking a 3–2 series lead back to Los Angeles, Detroit appeared poised to win their first NBA title in Game 6. In that game, Isiah Thomas scored an NBA Finals record 25 points in the third quarter while playing on a severely sprained ankle. However, the Lakers won the game, 103–102, on a pair of last-second free throws by Abdul-Jabbar following a controversial foul called on Bill Laimbeer, referred to by many as a “phantom foul”. With Thomas unable to compete at full strength, the Pistons narrowly fell in Game 7, 108–105, as the Lakers became the first back-to-back NBA Champions since the 1969 Boston Celtics.Beginning with the 1978–79 season, the Pistons played their home games in suburban Oakland County, directly north of Detroit/Wayne County, first playing ten seasons at the Pontiac Silverdome and then playing at The Palace of Auburn Hills starting in the 1988–89 season. Pistons owner Tom Gores, Palace Sports & Entertainment vice chairman Arn Tellum, and Olympia Entertainment, the Ilitch family’s holding company that controls the Red Wings and Tigers, had been in negotiations over a partnership since the summer of 2015, with the Pistons possibly relocating to the new Little Caesars Arena as soon as the 2017–18 season. Talks intensified just as the Pistons were set to open their 2016–17 season, and as part of the terms of the agreement, there was discussion of a possible merger between Olympia and PS&E. Also contingent on a finalized agreement, the Pistons were looking for a parcel of land in the arena’s vicinity to build a new practice facility and team headquarters. The leasing agreement/partnership needed both city and league approval to be finalized.