The Detroit Pistons are in a playoff spot with 25 games left in the 2024-25 NBA season.
The Pistons are currently the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference at 31-26 and are riding a six-game winning streak entering Monday night’s battle against the Los Angeles Clippers. They picked up right where they left off after last week’s All-Star break with a 15-point win over the San Antonio Spurs last Friday and a five-point win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
As it stands, the Pistons would be in a playoff spot and entirely avoid the play-in games between the No. 7 through 10 seeds.
However, there’s still a lot of basketball to play, and things can change very quickly in the NBA, as Pistons fans know well.
Here’s what some computer models think about the Pistons’ chances of making the postseason.
According to Basketball Reference, the Pistons have a 95.3% chance of reaching the playoffs with a 75.3% chance of finishing as a top-six seed to avoid the play-in.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index gives the Pistons a 97.7% chance of making the postseason, and a 32.3% chance of advancing to the conference semifinals if they do make the playoffs.
Detroit has not won a playoff game since 2008.
The Pistons are three games ahead of the No. 7 seed Orlando Magic in the standings, four games ahead of the No. 8 seed Miami Heat, five games ahead of the No. 9 seed Hawks, nine games ahead of the No. 10 seed Chicago Bulls and 9½ games ahead of the No. 11 seed Brooklyn Nets with 30% of the regular season remaining.
In addition to being ahead in the standings, the Pistons own the tiebreaker over the Hawks after Sunday’s win, own the tiebreaker over the Bulls and are currently 2-1 against the Heat with the fourth and final matchup coming in mid-March. The Magic are the only team directly behind the Pistons who own the tiebreaker edge with a 2-1 record against Detroit.
The Pistons are closer to moving up in the standings than falling. Detroit sits 1½ games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the East’s fifth spot and two games behind the Indiana Pacers at No. 4 and the final homecourt slot in the playoffs. The Pistons are 1-3 against the Pacers, meaning they would have to finish at least one game ahead to leap Indiana, and are 0-2 against the Bucks with two matchups remaining in the final two games of the regular season.
According to the Tanktathon website, the Pistons have the 13th-toughest remaining schedule in the NBA. Detroit has one game remaining against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, the two top teams in the East, and both games remaining against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the top team in the West.
Milwaukee has the fourth-toughest remaining schedule with 26 games left while Indiana has the 22nd-toughest remaining schedule with 27 games left.
The Pistons are 17-8 in 2025. The run has occurred without guard Jaden Ivey, who is out with a broken fibula. They’ve been able to pull it off because of the spectacular play of Cade Cunningham, who has a legitimate All-NBA case as a top-15 player this season, and a surging frontcourt led by center Jalen Duren.
In the last 15 games, the Pistons rank seventh in the NBA with a plus-7 net rating with a top-10 offense (117.8 offensive rating, ninth) and a top-10 defense (110.9, eighth). The Pistons have thrived getting into the paint on offense, creating turnovers to get out in transition and being one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league to spur the run.
Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22, and email him at jramsey@freepress.com.