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Stewart still has a reputation as the “tough guy,” and while that is true, he’s not just a classic interior bruiser. Over the last three seasons he’s a 37% 3-point shooter, which changes Detroit’s geometry when he can space to the line and punish any defender inside. But Stewart’s real gift is on defense.

Among 107 players who have defended at least 80 isolations this season, Stewart ranks best, allowing only 0.68 points per isolation. That’s one of the most dominant marks in recent years. The Pistons have comfortably let Stewart switch screens onto the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant, and he has the agility to stay connected without bleeding downhill drives.

If just one of Duren or Stewart is on the floor, the Pistons still have great rim protection thanks to their respective shot-blocking prowess. That lineup flexibility is a big reason the Pistons are second in NBA defensive rating, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Bench players like Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins had big scoring performances in OKC’s run last year, which serves as another example of why true contenders also need players who can light a spark.

For Detroit, you’d think it would be Jaden Ivey, Ron Holland, or Ausar Thompson, one of Detroit’s former lottery picks. And while each of them has carved out a role, the biggest jolt has often come from Daniss Jenkins, a 24-year-old guard on his second two-way contract after going undrafted in 2024. He’s already had a few “Jenkinsanity” bursts, recently erupting for a 20-point quarter and dishing out a career-high 15 assists. That fearless creation keeps Detroit’s offense from cratering when the starters catch a breather.

The Pistons certainly check a lot of boxes. And a great start makes fans happy, but it also creates a responsibility for the front office to figure out what breaks in the playoffs before the playoffs break it for you. When teams send two at Cade, is it because Thompson or Holland still can’t consistently make them pay as a spacer? If the ball is forced out of Cade’s hands, can Ivey or Tobias Harris be relied on to make a play? And does this roster have enough shooting to win playoff math? Detroit is 27th in 3-point attempts and 18th in 3-point percentage. That profile can survive in January. But maybe not in April.

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All of which brings us to the deadline. The Pistons have the ammo to address any holes. They control a full stash of future firsts, which means they can put four firsts plus three swaps on the table. They also have young players with value (Thompson, Ivey, Holland, Chaz Lanier, Marcus Sasser, and Bobi Klintman). And they have clean salary tools to make any deal work: Ivey is a $10.1 million upcoming restricted free agent, Harris is on a $26.6 million expiring contract, and LeVert will make just over $14 million for one additional season. Between them, other smaller salaries, and their assets, the Pistons can target just about any player.

Here are eight calls Detroit should make, ranked by impact and fit first, and availability second.

1. Trey Murphy, Pelicans forward: Murphy is the cleanest fit for Detroit. He slides into the ecosystem without changing anyone’s shot diet, and his shooting and length raise both the floor and ceiling. At age 25, he also matches Cade’s timeline. The price would be steep (multiple firsts plus youth), but that’s what true two-way wings cost.

2. Michael Porter Jr., Nets forward: MPJ is the more extreme version of the same idea. He is not the same defender as Murphy, but he is a more lethal shooter. Put a 6-foot-10 shotmaker next to Cade, Robinson, and Stewart, and defenses start running out of coverages. The Nets would expect a large return for MPJ.

3. Jaren Jackson Jr., Grizzlies power forward: JJJ is the swing-for-the-fences option. He gives Detroit a third defensive superpower plus a big who can space and close playoff games. Memphis isn’t eager to move him, but given the uncertain state of the team, Detroit should make the call.

4. Naz Reid, Timberwolves big: The Wolves aren’t trying to trade Reid. But in theory, he’s the salary that’d have to move if Minnesota makes a big acquisition. And the Pistons previously expressed interest in signing him during his free agency just last summer, so maybe he could find his way to Detroit in some type of three-way deal. With his shot creation, shooting, and contagious energy, he’d be a perfect third big in Detroit’s frontcourt.

5. Ayo Dosunmu, Bulls guard: Dosunmu has turned into a real shooter, he can slash into space, and he competes defensively. The Bulls are going nowhere and Dosunmu can be a free agent this summer, so perhaps they’d be willing to cash in.

6. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Hawks wing: NAW is making 42.1% of his catch-and-shoot 3s this season and he can do work off the dribble while also providing versatile defense. There’s no reason for the Hawks to move him, especially since he’s on such a team-friendly contract of four years, $60.6 million. But the Hawks seem stuck, and maybe they’d listen if the Pistons are willing to overpay.

7. Klay Thompson, Mavericks wing: Klay is quietly having a bounce-back year in less-than-ideal circumstances in Dallas. He still bends defenses with instant-trigger shooting and elite relocation. At $16.7 million this season, he is also the kind of salary you can realistically absorb without detonating the rotation.

8. Jerami Grant, Blazers wing: Welcome back! Grant was traded to the Blazers in 2022 following a career year with the Pistons, and he’s still a good player today. He’s a clean fit who can guard wings, hit spot-ups, and punish closeouts as a third option without stealing too many touches from Cade. 

Pistons fans who were around for the 2004 championship will remember the Rasheed Wallace acquisition. The Pistons were already a Finals hopeful at 34-22 and third in the East on the morning of the deadline. Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton were an exciting backcourt, Tayshaun Prince was having a breakout season on the wing, and Ben Wallace was in the middle of his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year run. The Pistons were contenders. But the front office recognized that “good enough” wasn’t going to cut it.

So Detroit targeted Wallace just 10 days after he was already traded to Atlanta, and acquired him for a rotation player and multiple firsts. Wallace came with his warts with a league record technical foul history and a fiery personality that risked disrupting chemistry. And it did, but in a great way. The Pistons finished the year 20-6, as Sheed became a perfect on-court complement and the emotional spark plug that transformed Detroit into a championship unit.

Today’s Pistons find themselves in a nearly identical headspace. They have the engine in Cade, the defensive foundation in Duren and Stewart, and a newfound culture of winning under Bickerstaff. But how hard do you push? Detroit knows how quickly windows can open and shut. Two years ago, this was the league’s worst team. Now, the Pistons get to decide whether to act like a title team.

Only five players are now ahead of Kevin Durant on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. 

The 18-year veteran scorer passed Dirk Nowitzki for the sixth-highest total in NBA history in the Houston Rockets’ 119-110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night. Durant moved ahead of Nowitzki when he hit a free throw with 15.2 seconds remaining in the game. 

A free throw may not be exciting, but Durant tied Nowitzki with a typically smooth fadeaway from the foul line with 1:05 left to boost the Rockets’ lead to 116-102. He finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.

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Durant now has 31,562 career points in 1,161 games. He reached that total in 362 fewer games than Nowitzki. 

The Hall of Famer (Class of 2023) congratulated Durant for passing him with a recorded message.

“Not super happy about him passing me,” Nowitzki joked. “No, seriously, to me, he is one of the purest, smoothest scorers the game has ever seen. A 7-footer, basically, which he says he’s not. I think he’s a 7-footer with really a two-guard’s game. The shot-making, the off-the-dribble stuff, the off-balance stuff.”

“It’s been incredible to watch his career,” he added. “Congrats, KD! Keep it going. Move up a couple more spots and keep it up. Good luck.”

Up next on the NBA’s all-time scoring list is Michael Jordan with 32,292 points. If Durant plays to his career averages and plays 65 or more games this season, he should get the 730 points he needs to reach fifth place on that list. 

From there, going from fourth to first, are Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James.

Durant is under contract for two more seasons, including a player option for 2027-28, after signing an extension before this season. Presuming he stays healthy and plays out his contract, he should pass Bryant and could challenge Malone among the NBA’s all-time leading scorers.

LeBron James has gone up against more than a third of all players who have ever played in the NBA.

The Los Angeles Lakers star competed against his 1,822nd player — Portland Trail Blazers center Yang Hansen — on Saturday night at the Moda Center, which is a remarkable figure on its own in his 23 seasons in the NBA. According to Stathead, James has now played against 33.8% of all players who have ever competed in an NBA game. 

While that feels like a lot, and it is, the roughly one-third benchmark is actually down from a couple of years ago. 

After a game against the Dallas Mavericks during the 2023-24 season, the Lakers revealed that James had actually played against 35% of all players in NBA history. James called that “insane” on social media at the time.

James broke the record during that season, too, when he played against his 1,669th opponent. So while the figure from Saturday night is cool to see, it’s nothing new for the man many consider to be one of, if not the best, player in NBA history.

James finished just shy of a triple-double in Sunday night’s 132-116 loss to the Trail Blazers, which dropped the Lakers to 24-16 on the season. He had 20 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists in that contest, which marked his 23rd game of the season. The 41-year-old has averaged 22.6 points, 6.9 assists and six rebounds per game this season. 

James, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, can only miss one more game this season to remain eligible for All-NBA honors and postseason awards. He has been battling several injuries this season, including the first 14 of the season due to sciatica.

While there are other accolades that James likely cares about more in his career — like the four MVP awards, his all-time scoring title or his four championships, among others — Saturday night’s stat is just the latest wild figure showing how long James has dominated professional basketball. 

A celebration, multiple melees, and high-paced hockey made for an entertaining afternoon outing.

The Detroit Red Wings played Atlantic Division rival Ottawa for only the second time this season on Sunday, Jan. 18, and the first time at Little Caesars Arena.

The Wings rallied from an early deficit but blew a later lead against the Senators to force the game past regulation. Alex DeBrincat then scored 36 seconds into overtime to give the Wings a 4-3 victory.

The Wings won the first game, in Ottawa, earlier this month, and there are two more on the menu: In Ottawa in February, and in Detroit in March. The Senators are toiling near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, but with their No. 1 goalie, Linus Ullmark, expected back on the ice soon, that might change.

INJURED RESERVE: Broadcaster Mickey Redmond on leave from Detroit Red Wings: Neck ‘9 out of 10 bad’

Detroit Red Wings playoff picture

The victory brought Detroit to 30 on the season as the Red Wings (30-16-4) kept pace with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who also won Sunday, atop the Atlantic and the Eastern Conference. (The Lightning have played three fewer games than the Wings, while the Metropolitan-leading Carolina Hurricanes, also with 64 points, have played one fewer.) The Wings have a couple days off before heading to Toronto to face the struggling Maple Leafs in a nationally televised game on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., TNT).

An honor and an assist for Patrick Kane

Sunday’s affair between the Wings and Sens began with a celebration: Patrick Kane was honored for scoring his 500th career NHL goal on Jan. 8 before the puck dropped, joined on the ice by his parents, significant other and son, and general manager Steve Yzerman, who chanced signing Kane in November 2023 in what turned out to be a good deal for both sides.

Giving up two straight goals – to Drake Batherson, who knocked a rebound behind John Gibson at 4:26 and to Dylan Cozens on a power play at 5:05 after defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker flubbed a chance to clear the puck – was a bit of a downer, but the Wings got back in it quickly when they went on a power play at 5:22.

Axel Sandin-Pellikka, fresh off a performance that left him benched for all but two shifts in the previous game, scored at 7:16 on a shot from the point that flew by half a dozen players to sink behind former Wings goalie James Reimer. The Senators signed Reimer last week after their failing to find a serviceable goalie while Ullmark was on a leave of absence. (Mads Sogaard, a Senators second-round pick in 2019, has a 17.22 goals-against average from appearing less than one period in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.)

Kane assisted on Sandin-Pellikka’s goal to reach 1,372 points, three shy of passing metro Detroit native and former Red Wing Mike Modano (1,374) for most points by a U.S.-born player.

The first period also featured a melee in front of the Senators bench that landed two players from each side in the penalty boxes, plus a third Sen serving a too many men penalty to gie the Wings a man advantage. There were also multiple scrums.

Back and forth in the second

Lucas Raymond tied the game six minutes into the second period when he skated down the middle and and fired a shot past defender Jake Sanderson and into Ottawa’s net. Ridly Greig’s open-ice hit on Raymond around four minutes later left Raymond face down on the ice and in need of the team’s trainer and a trip down the tunnel, and gave the Wings another power play. (Raymond returned for the start of the third period.)

They didn’t score on that one, but did on the next one. Dylan Larkin fired a shot on net, with the rebound sliding to the front of the net. James van Riemsdyk got his stick on the puck, and managed to slip a backhand between his legs for his 13th goal of the season. The Wings’ first lead of the game, though, was leveled in the final minute of the second period when Shane Pinto tipped Claude Giroux’s shot, with former Wings forward David Perron picking up the second assist.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings veto Ottawa Senators’ upset bid in overtime