They lead the NBA in wins so far in January. They'll have a winning record at the midpoint of the season. They've won five of their last six games at home, and they've also won five of their last six games on the road.
And chances are, you wouldn't guess which team fits that billing.
It's the Detroit Pistons. Yes, the Pistons.
Doormats and punchlines no more, the Pistons are adding themselves to the list of great surprises in the NBA this season. They're now 21-19 after winning Monday night against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, meaning they'll hit the halfway mark of the season with a winning record for the first time since 2017-18.
“We believe we can beat anybody,” Pistons center Isaiah Stewart said. “That's our belief. We're good enough to beat any team in this league. That's the belief we've got and we believe in each other. We're always pouring confidence into each other to go out there and be the best versions of ourselves. When we have that collectively as a group, that's a lot of energy — a lot of positive energy that we're putting out there.”
The notion of the Pistons beating anybody — literally, anybody — a year ago would have been comical. That was the team that lost a record 28 consecutive games, the worst single-season stretch in NBA history. They were 4-37 through 41 games, tying the sixth-worst start to a season ever. They were so bad that Pistons owner Tom Gores had to do the unthinkable and fire a coach in Monty Williams with five years and $65 million or so left on his contract.
This year's Pistons started 0-4 under new coach JB Bickerstaff. The preseason expectations of being bad once again looked pretty secure. But they've now won 10 of their last 12 games and lead the NBA with seven wins so far in January. They could be a play-in team. They could be a playoff team. They might have an All-Star in Cade Cunningham. The way he's playing right now, Cunningham — bidding to be Detroit's first All-Star since Blake Griffin in 2019 — might want to go ahead and make plans for a trip to San Francisco next month for that very reason.
“I’m just thankful for my team, thankful for this coaching staff," Cunningham said. "We've got to keep going. We've got a lot more work to do.”
The Pistons have already smashed last season's win total of 14. They're maybe a couple weeks away from rewarding bettors that went on the high side of their season-long win total that was set at 25.5 by BetMGM Sportsbook. It's happening with Cunningham — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft — now looking like a bona fide breakout star, with season averages of 24.5 points, 9.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds per game.
“Our job is to put him in position to be successful. And then he’s got to go out there and do it,” Bickerstaff said. “Over these 40 games now, he and I and his teammates have learned a lot about each other and how we can best help each other. And that’s what it’s about — each of us playing our role and doing what we’re supposed to do together and collectively to just help one another, make this team as good as we possibly can. Cade knows his role and what this team needs, and he’s executed perfectly.”
It does seem fitting that Bickerstaff is getting to be part of something good, since he was fired by a good team in Cleveland after last season. The Cavaliers had an over-under of 48.5 wins entering the season; they're an NBA-best 33-5 right now.
Oklahoma City, Houston, Chicago, Portland, Brooklyn and Atlanta are also among the teams on pace to top their expected win totals for the season. But they won't get there in January, like the Pistons might. If that's the metric for measuring surprises, then the Pistons might be the biggest stunner so far this season.
“The best part about this team is finding different ways to win the game,” Bickerstaff said.
It's been a long time coming. It's not time to start selling playoff tickets quite yet, Detroit. But before now, the last time the Pistons were even two games over .500 — barely above mediocre — was March 2019, nearly six years ago.
These are good signs. Signs of progress. Signs of belief. For a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in 17 years — that's 173 players, 10 coaches and two arenas ago — there might be real hope this time.
Around The NBA analyzes the biggest topics in the NBA during the season.
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Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) celebrates with fans after a win over the Charlotte Hornets in an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, front, celebrates after scoring against the Toronto Raptors during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, left, celebrates with guard Cade Cunningham (2) after a win over the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsaid Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.
The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he's repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.
The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project Trump has criticized as excessive.
Here's the latest:
Stocks are falling on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony about the Fed’s building renovations.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% in early trading Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 384 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.
Powell characterized the threat of criminal charges as pretexts to undermine the Fed’s independence in setting interest rates, its main tool for fighting inflation. The threat is the latest escalation in President Trump’s feud with the Fed.
▶ Read more about the financial markets
She says she had “a very good conversation” with Trump on Monday morning about topics including “security with respect to our sovereignties.”
Last week, Sheinbaum had said she was seeking a conversation with Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. president made comments in an interview that he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation that cartels were running Mexico.
Trump’s offers of using U.S. forces against Mexican cartels took on a new weight after the Trump administration deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Sheinbaum was expected to share more about their conversation later Monday.
A leader of the Canadian government is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild his country’s fractured relations with the world’s second-largest economy — and reduce Canada’s dependence on the United States, its neighbor and until recently one of its most supportive and unswerving allies.
The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States — the world’s No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.
Carney aims to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports in the next decade in the face of President Trump’s tariffs and the American leader’s musing that Canada could become “the 51st state.”
▶ Read more about relations between Canada and China
The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. President Trump has said he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.
Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO.
▶ Read more about the U.S. and Greenland
Trump said Sunday that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro.
“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One as he departed West Palm Beach, Florida. “They’re playing too cute.”
During a meeting Friday with oil executives, Trump tried to assuage the concerns of the companies and said they would be dealing directly with the U.S., rather than the Venezuelan government.
Some, however, weren’t convinced.
“If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s uninvestable,” said Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company.
An ExxonMobil spokesperson did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment.
▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on ExxonMobil
Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.
The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.
“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.
The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”
Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”
▶ Read more about the “suspicious object”
Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no direct reaction to Trump’s comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.
▶ Read more about the possible negotiations and follow live updates
Fed Chair Powell said Sunday the DOJ has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.
The move represents an unprecedented escalation in Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.
The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive.
Powell on Sunday cast off what has up to this point been a restrained approach to Trump’s criticisms and personal insults, which he has mostly ignored. Instead, Powell issued a video statement in which he bluntly characterized the threat of criminal charges as simple “pretexts” to undermine the Fed’s independence when it comes to setting interest rates.
▶ Read more about the subpoenas
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
