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Detroit Pistons’ Front Office Lands Impressive Accomplishment

Detroit Pistons' Trajan Langdon was an Executive of the Year finalist.
Justin Grasso|
Mar 26, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Trajan Langdon, the general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, left, talks with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams (34) before a game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
Mar 26, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Trajan Langdon, the general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, left, talks with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams (34) before a game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

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Detroit Pistons

On Tuesday, the NBA announced that the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Sam Presti has been voted as the Executive of the Year. With the final voting results revealed, the Detroit Pistons should be satisfied with the idea that their recently revamped front office ranked third.

Presti finished with 74 total points. He had 10 votes for first-place, six for second-place, and six for third-place. Cleveland Cavaliers’ Koby Altman was second, landing six first-place votes, eight second-place votes, and four third-place votes for 58 points.

As for Trajan Langdon, the first-year President of Basketball Operations, he tied Altman with six votes for first place. He had five second-place votes and seven votes for third-place. Langdon finished with 52 total votes.

Last year, the Pistons knew they had to make some major changes after going 14-68. It started up top with the front office. The Pistons hired Trajan Langdon from the New Orleans Pelicans to take over. Troy Weaver parted ways with the Pistons, joining the Washington Wizards as an advisor for one season.

Langdon helped put together the search for a new head coach, landing on JB Bickerstaff. Like Langdon, Bickerstaff was a finalist for a major award this year, falling short against Kenny Atkinson for the NBA’s Coach of the Year acknowledgement.

When Langdon took over, some of his most notable moves included trades for Tim Hardaway Jr and Dennis Schroder, signing Tobias Harris and Malik Beasley, and picking up Ron Holland in the 2024 NBA Draft. The Pistons went from winning just 14 games to finishing 44-38 in 2024-2025. Detroit made the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia

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