RandBall: Pistons are the NBA’s hottest team, and Wolves fans couldn’t be happier

The blockbuster trade between the Wolves and Knicks just before the start of training camp has an element that sometimes is forgotten.

And even when not forgotten, it has tended to be downplayed.

The Wolves sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York, as you probably know, and received Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in return.

Also included in the deal: a protected first-round draft pick via Detroit.

Wolves fans, many of them devastated by KAT’s departure, tended to dunk on the first-round draft pick part of the trade by insisting it would never materialize.

It’s top-13 protected in 2025, top-11 in 2026 and top-9 in 2027. If the Pistons were so lousy that they kept the pick through all of that, as some assumed they would be, the pick would become a second-rounder in 2027.

To be fair, Detroit hasn’t won more than 23 games in any of the past five seasons. This year, their preseason over-under win total was set at a comparatively optimistic 25.5, which would still put them firmly in the lottery while kicking the draft pick owed down the road at least another year.

But that is why they play the games.

Just as Minnesota fans might be surprised to know that Basketball Reference says the Wolves are actually better than the Knicks this season, they surely are surprised and delighted to watch what is happening with the Pistons.

Detroit is on an eight-game winning streak after clobbering defending NBA champion Boston on Wednesday, something I talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

The Pistons arguably are the NBA’s hottest team right now, with those eight consecutive wins tying Cleveland (the NBA’s best team all year) for the longest active streak.

The win over Boston boosted their record to 33-26. Only six teams in the Eastern Conference are above .500, and Basketball Reference gives Detroit a 91% chance of avoiding the play-in and a 98% chance overall of making the playoffs.

If the Pistons make the playoffs, they won’t be a lottery team. And their first-round pick in 2025 will be headed to Minnesota.

That would essentially cancel out the pick the Wolves currently owe Utah as part of the Rudy Gobert trade. Entering play Thursday, Minnesota was 32-27, a record that would have them sending the No. 18 pick to the Jazz. Detroit’s first-round pick, likely headed to Minnesota, would be No. 20 at the moment.

The 2025 NBA draft class is thought to be a deep one, meaning the Wolves could either secure another talented young player or use the Pistons pick as a trade chip.

Stockpiling inexpensive young talent, which the Wolves already are doing with the recent development of Jaylen Clark, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Rob Dillingham, will go a long way toward helping the Wolves compete and stay out of the second apron of the NBA luxury tax in future years.

That, of course, was part of the reason for the KAT trade in the first place.