Pistons vs. Magic GameThread: Game Time, TV, Odds, and More

Nothing helps your personal PR like winning. It’s certainly helped Paolo Banchero, who is leading a much-improved Orlando Magic team that is firmly in the playoff picture. Conversely, the lack of winning has very much hurt the Q rating of Cade Cunningham, Orlando’s opponent tonight. Unlike his fellow No. 1 pick in Banchero, Cunningham is either tagged with a label as a bust, a disappointment, or irrelevant because if he was really so good his team would be winning. Paolo, meanwhile, has performed admirably and not spectacularly as a No. 1 pick, but he is sitting pretty and firmly in the discussion as one of the best young players in the game. It’s understandable if not altogether fair. Cade deserves better than this, man.

Grousing aside, the good news for the Detroit Pistons. Quentin Grimes, who the Pistons obtained in the Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic swap with the New York Knicks, is set to make his Detroit debut. Grimes has been out with a knee issue, and head coach Monty Williams says he will not play a full allotment of minutes. Still, I don’t think it will take long for Pistons fans to see how needed a perimeter defender like Grimes will be for this Pistons team.

Game Vitals

When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: Bally Sports Detroit
Odds: Pistons +8

Projected Lineups

Detroit Pistons (8-47)

Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Simone Fontecchio, Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren

Orlando Magic (31-25)

Jalen Suggs, Gary Harris, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr.

Question of the Game

How many minutes into the game until the Detroit Pistons are playing their 10th player of the night?