Most Glaring Roster Hole the Pistons Must Address in the NBA Draft

The Detroit Pistons finished off their 2025-26 season making it as far as Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals before losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Now, they have no choice but to turn their attention to the next big event of the year, which is the 2026 NBA Draft. The red-hot Pistons don’t have many players leaving in free agency, but there is a roster hole that should absolutely be addressed.

Detroit saw one of their top rising stars, Jalen Duren, earn himself his first all-star selection this season in his fourth year in the league. At just 22 years old, he has a whole lengthy career ahead of him, but behind Duren, there isn’t any proven depth.

It’s crazy how the trend in the NBA of doubling up on bigs, specifically centers, has started to come back around, but it makes sense knowing how much the skill level has jumped up in the last five years.

This is where the Pistons come into play. Even though Duren was an all-star, he was benched a few times due to poor play in the playoffs. Detroit has to make a decision on his contract as he’s a restricted free agent this summer and could demand a five-year max contract worth $50 million a year.

Here’s how they can address a glaring hole in their roster in the upcoming draft.

Bank on super tall center to takeover

If you really look at Duren’s game and want to nitpick, you could say that most of what makes him expendable was put on blast during the NBA playoffs against both Orlando and Cleveland.

Duren went from averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game to just 10.6 points per game in their close series win versus the Magic in round one. He then disappointed fans even more in round two by averaging 9.5 points and 11 rebounds per game. A lot of fans have made it known that they don’t necessarily see him as a key piece next season.

Detroit has the 21st overall pick in this summer’s draft, which is a fantastic spot to select a center to plug-and-play in next year's championship pursuit. Drafting a much taller, and more physical center can easily fix that problem, and a great candidate for that would be Michigan’s Aday Mara.

What better than to keep the Michigan boy in-state, not to mention one that helped the program win a national championship this past season.

What Aday Mara could bring to the table for Detroit

Standing at 7 foot 3 inches tall and weighing in at 255, Mara could absolutely become the NBA’s next big thing if his skills can translate to the next level.

Mara not only helped Michigan win a championship but did so in style with his insane 26-point performance against Arizona’s uber tough defense in the Final Four. That can be combined with his final 24 games averages of 13.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game to skyrocket his name up the draft boards.

The first-round center prospects this year don’t really have a clear-cut top option; it’ll all depend on who each team views as a fit for their prospect search. Mara could instantly fill that need for center in Detroit because he fits their brand of basketball. Simple as that.

He’s a great player both offensively and defensively, especially for a big man, he makes smart reads both with or without the ball and shoots 66.8% from the field.

There is a chance Mara is taken higher than 21st overall and the Pistons miss out on him, but if he’s there, I’m sure fans wouldn't be too upset with that pick.

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