The Detroit Pistons made their only pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, selecting Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier with the No. 37 overall pick in the second round Thursday, June 26, at Barclays Center in New York.
The 6-foot-4 senior averaged 18 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.9 steals in his only season with the Vols (following four seasons at North Florida), gaining a reputation as a well-tested shooter. He knocked down 40.2% of his 687 3-point attempts during his five-year college career, making him one of the surest bets in the draft to be able to space the floor. Lanier worked out for the Pistons on June 2.
The Pistons entered Thursday’s second round eying the best player available on the board. Lanier was widely considered to be one of the best remaining prospects and fills an immediate need for a team with its top two shooters — Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. — entering unrestricted free agency next week.
Spacing has been a priority for Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon since he took over the organization last May.
“We have our qualities that we’re looking for — high character, hard working and competitive,” Langdon said earlier this week. “Size is important throughout the league. As we’ve looked at that pick, there’s a lot of wings that are intriguing. There’s some bigs that are intriguing and there’s some guards that can shoot the ball that are intriguing as well. I think we’ll find a player we like at that number.”
The Pistons now look forward to Monday, June 30, when they will be allowed to negotiate with outside free agents for the first time beginning at 6 p.m. They will be allowed to sign players starting July 6 at 12:01 p.m.
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Langdon has signaled the team wants to bring back its veteran free agents — Beasley, Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schröder.
“If we can keep some of the guys that we have as part of this run, some of the vets, that would be great,” he said. “We know they’re going to get interest from other teams as well. As we look to keep them, we’ll also have to have backup options as well if they choose to go somewhere else for a deal that we can’t match, or a deal that we can’t get to. We’d like to get those guys back but we’ll be prepared to have to go another direction.”
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