{"id":695933,"date":"2026-04-03T14:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695933\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T14:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T14:25:16","slug":"long-awaited-caris-levert-change-is-what-pistons-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/695933\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-Awaited Caris LeVert Change Is What Pistons Needed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"57\">While the Detroit Pistons have exceeded all expectations throughout the season, <a href=\"https:\/\/detroitjockcity.com\/3-pistons-entering-final-april-detroit-01kn1x9q67yq\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">not every player has lived up to expectations<\/a>. The first name that comes to mind that fits that bill in Detroit is Caris LeVert. The veteran shooting guard signed a two-year, $29 million deal in the offseason to bring more playmaking and shot creation, but has been in the midst of the <a href=\"https:\/\/detroitjockcity.com\/caris-levert-remains-pistons-weakest-link-cade-cunningham-absence-01kmn0ttj4r1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">worst offensive season of his career<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5a\">As a result, Pistons fans have been begging to see less of LeVert. <\/p>\n<p>Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, much to the frustration of the fanbase, has reiterated his trust in the 31-year-old shooting guard throughout the season. He stuck with LeVert, consistently giving him around 20 minutes off the bench. <\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, it looks like this may finally be changing. <\/p>\n<p>Caris LeVert Finally Getting Marginalized in Pistons&#8217; Rotation<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5g\">LeVert played 14 minutes in Detroit&#8217;s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, playing less than 15 minutes in a game only for the third time in 2026. In fact, LeVert played more than 20 minutes once in Detroit&#8217;s last seven games, and that was the game the Pistons <a href=\"https:\/\/detroitjockcity.com\/pistons-lengthy-injury-report-thunder-highlights-savvy-strategy-01kmzbhxqhsw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rested half of their rotation<\/a> against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">The Pistons had an 11-man rotation on Thursday. LeVert played the 10th-fewest minutes in the game and was seemingly behind the likes of Javonte Green and Kevin Huerter in the rotation. Bickerstaff didn&#8217;t give him a single minute in the fourth quarter. Instead, Daniss Jenkins played the entire quarter on his way to 37 minutes on the night. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">The fact that LeVert is playing so little, even while Cade Cunningham is out, doesn&#8217;t bode well for his minutes once the star guard is back. Bickerstaff is giving Jenkins as many minutes as he can handle, marginalizing LeVert and Marcus Sasser in the rotation. Once Cunningham gets back on the court and is playing over 35 minutes a night in the playoffs, one has to assume that Jenkins will be his backup. <\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t leave much playing time for LeVert. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">It&#8217;s not like the Pistons have regretted this decision over the last two weeks. In the last six games LeVert has played in, the Pistons went 4-2 with a point differential of plus-36. In his minutes, however, Detroit was outscored by 23 points, continuing a frustrating trend all season. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">Bickerstaff may have finally come to his senses right before the playoffs. Pistons fans would love to see the new minutes distribution continue as we get <a href=\"https:\/\/detroitjockcity.com\/ron-holland-trending-in-wrong-direction-ahead-playoffs-01kmn4g9s1xx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">closer to the postseason<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>More Detroit Pistons News &amp; Rumors:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Detroit Pistons have exceeded all expectations throughout the season, not every player has lived up to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-695933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116341238825171031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}