Pistons Will 'Beat the S--t Out of You,' Says Player Who Voted DET to Win 2026 NBA Title in New Poll

While the top-seeded Detroit Pistons weren't the favorites to win the NBA Finals in a new player poll, one respondent believes they'll be a difficult matchup in more ways than one.

"Tough team out the East," the player said, per Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. "Not an easy team to beat. They play physical as hell. They dictate the physicality of the game, and if you don't go in there and play physical with them, they will beat you. They'll beat the s--t out of you."

The Pistons, who won 60 games in the regular season, got the fifth-most votes from the 146 players who weighed in to pick a winner heading into the playoffs.

The reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder (50 percent) were at the top. The more battle-tested Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets were also ahead of Detroit, while French phenom Victor Wembanayama catapulted the San Antonio Spurs to second (25.3 percent) on the list despite the squad's lack of postseason experience together.

The skepticism toward the Pistons — if you want to call it that — is basically the same thing that gets attached to any good regular-season squad without a ton of playoff success. Detroit's lone trip with this group resulted in a first-round exit in six games last year.

The past performance of coach J.B. Bickerstaff is probably working against the team too. Only once in four previous tries has he gotten out of the opening round.

The 2025-26 Pistons feel like a return to the glory days in the Motor City. The 1989, 1990 and 2004 championships were all forged with a defensive identity, and that's exactly what Bickerstaff has instilled into this roster.

Detroit ranked second in defensive rating (108.9) and third in opponent field-goal percentage (44.3), per NBA.com. Ausar Thompson is a dogged defender on the perimeter, and anybody who drives past him is likely to encounter Jalen Duren and/or Isaiah Stewart at the basket.

When a team is the No. 1 seed in its conference, it's already implied they're going to be somebody you want to avoid. That's especially true in the Pistons' case because of how much they relish bringing that physicality.

Nobody, whether it's the Thunder, Spurs, Celtics, Nuggets, etc. will want to draw them in the bracket.