The Detroit Pistons rocketing out to one of the best records in the NBA early this season also gives them a chance to play for some hardware during the season.
For the third year, the NBA is running their in-season tournament, the NBA Cup, giving teams the opportunity to win a trophy and earn players prize money.
Group play is just about wrapped up and the Pistons are still in contention to reach the knockout stage. Although they dropped an important game against the Boston Celtics — which also ended their 13-game winning streak — the Pistons still have one path into the next round.
It’s pretty simple: win to get in.
The loss to the Celtics really only hurt Detroit’s chances of getting in as a wild card team as the four teams to advance in each conference are the three group winners and the second-place team with the best group-play record in the conference.
The Pistons sit 2-1, but their final game is against the Group B leader, the Orlando Magic (3-0), on Friday.
Had Detroit won on Wednesday, the game could’ve resulted in both teams advancing to the knockout round, with one loss potentially being enough to net the wild card spot.
Instead, the Pistons absolutely need to win Friday’s game at Little Caesars Arena in order to move on.
The Magic could still advance to the knockout stage with a loss as no second-place team can have a record better than 3-1 and the first tiebreaker is point differential. Orlando currently leads the Eastern Conference in point differential with +61.
A 2-2 record wouldn’t get the Pistons to the knockout stage as there is guaranteed to be two 3-1 teams in Group C — the Miami Heat and the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks vs. New York Knicks game on Friday.
While losing a game to the Magic and not progressing on in the tournament is certainly not a detriment to the season, getting to play more competitive games against playoff-caliber opponents isn’t anything to scoff at.
Not to mention, the financial incentive to advance can be particularly meaningful for players toward the end of the bench who aren’t on lucrative contracts.
Every player on the team that wins the NBA Cup earns over $500,000, while just making the knockout round nets players over $50,000 with the prize bumping up every further stage they progress.
For context, a two-way contract earns a player $636,435 for the entire season.
The Pistons haven’t had to deal with a loss in quite some time. Now there are added stakes to their bounce-back game.
