The Thunder winning the NBA Finals behind the league MVP and a mostly homegrown roster sparks “a fascinating and fair conversation for the Pistons” this summer, says Jim Costa: “Which path do you walk down?”
“Do you see what OKC did and try to do this more homegrown? Or do you see Haliburton get hurt and say, ‘The East is wide open. We gotta do something bold, aggressive and do it right now?’”
Costa leans more toward the former, acknowledging that while “we all have guys we’d like this team to add, I don’t think it’s as extreme as, ‘If they don’t, then they royally screwed up.’ I feel like they were good enough to beat the Knicks this season, and they’re in a great position in the East even if they don’t land this home run big fish in the next month.”
Trajan Langdon and the Pistons believe they have their version of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Cade Cunningham. “The big question,” says Costa, is “you don’t know if you have a Jalen Williams or a Chet Holmgren.” And while the East does appear wide open next season, “the goal isn’t to win the East. The goal is to win it all.”
That places some “healthy pressure” on Langdon this offseason: “We’re all human. And opportunity is there, and pressure is there. … There’s always pressure to capitalize. That’s where the pressure comes from. It’s healthy pressure, and it’s something that we’ve wanted from our teams for a long time.”
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