After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Detroit Pistons

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

54 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 48 to 59 wins.

The market

49.3 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

60-22

2025-26 · net rating +8.0 (3rd in the NBA)

Our estimate is 4.9 wins above the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 50 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 49.3 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 54, middle 80%: 48 to 59 Market 49.3

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 98% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 1.7% Outside the top 10: 0%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
2594¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3093¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3591¢ 97¢ 94¢ 100%
4084¢ 94¢ 89¢ 100%
4568¢ 73¢ 71¢ 98%
5045¢ 48¢ 47¢ 84%
5530¢ 31¢ 31¢ 43%
602¢ 13¢ 8¢ 8%
650¢ 7¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 60-22 (3rd in wins)

Points per game
117.88th
Allowed per game
109.63rd
Offensive rating
115.510th
Defensive rating
107.52nd
Net rating
+8.03rd

2024-25 · 44-38 (14th in wins)

Points per game
115.512th
Allowed per game
113.614th
Offensive rating
112.915th
Defensive rating
111.110th
Net rating
+1.913th

2023-24 · 14-68 (30th in wins)

Points per game
109.927th
Allowed per game
119.026th
Offensive rating
107.728th
Defensive rating
116.725th
Net rating
-8.928th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
+1.097th
Defense
-2.795th
Net, games only
+3.893rd
Roster value
+4.71

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (6)

  • John Collinsfrom LAC
    27.1 min, 13.6 pts a game
  • Isaiah Joefrom OKC
    21.2 min, 11.1 pts a game
  • Taurean Princefrom MIL
    23.6 min, 9.2 pts a game
  • EJ Harklessfrom UTAH
    21.0 min, 6.8 pts a game
2 moredepth and rookies
  • Ebuka OkorieRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Ugonna OnyensoRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (4)

  • Tobias Harrisnow with SA
    27.8 min, 13.3 pts a game
  • Isaiah Stewartnow with MEM
    22.7 min, 10.0 pts a game
  • Caris LeVertnow with MIL
    19.2 min, 7.4 pts a game
  • Jaden Iveynot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    16.8 min, 8.2 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our NBA engine: today's rosters, the depth chart, each team held to 240 minutes, and each player's chance of playing. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Cade Cunningham G · age 25 · 31.1 projected min 2025-26: 64 g, 23.9 pts, 5.5 reb, 9.9 ast

2025-26 · DET

64games
33.9min
23.9pts
5.5reb
FG46.1%548/1189
3P34.2%125/366
FT81.2%310/382

9.9 assists a game

2024-25 · DET

70games
35.0min
26.1pts
6.1reb
FG46.9%684/1457
3P35.6%149/418
FT84.6%313/370

9.1 assists a game

2023-24 · DET

62games
33.5min
22.7pts
4.3reb
FG44.9%524/1167
3P35.5%119/335
FT86.9%238/274

7.5 assists a game

Ausar Thompson F · age 23 · 29.4 projected min 2025-26: 73 g, 9.9 pts, 5.7 reb, 3.1 ast

2025-26 · DET

73games
26.0min
9.9pts
5.7reb
FG52.5%303/577
3P25.0%6/24
FT57.1%109/191

3.1 assists a game

2024-25 · DET

59games
22.5min
10.1pts
5.1reb
FG53.5%246/460
3P22.4%11/49
FT64.1%91/142

2.3 assists a game

2023-24 · DET

63games
25.2min
8.8pts
6.4reb
FG48.3%232/480
3P18.6%21/113
FT59.7%71/119

1.9 assists a game

Jalen Duren C · age 22 · 27.0 projected min 2025-26: 70 g, 19.5 pts, 10.5 reb, 2.0 ast

2025-26 · DET

70games
28.3min
19.5pts
10.5reb
FG65.0%522/803
3Pn/a0/0
FT74.7%321/430

2.0 assists a game

2024-25 · DET

78games
26.1min
11.8pts
10.3reb
FG69.2%378/546
3Pn/a0/0
FT66.9%162/242

2.7 assists a game

2023-24 · DET

61games
29.1min
13.8pts
11.6reb
FG61.9%349/564
3P0.0%0/4
FT79.0%143/181

2.4 assists a game

Duncan Robinson G · age 32 · 26.1 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 12.2 pts, 2.7 reb, 2.1 ast

2025-26 · DET

77games
27.4min
12.2pts
2.7reb
FG45.6%318/698
3P41.0%220/536
FT75.5%83/110

2.1 assists a game

2024-25 · MIA

74games
24.1min
11.0pts
2.3reb
FG43.7%290/663
3P39.3%190/483
FT88.7%47/53

2.4 assists a game

2023-24 · MIA

68games
28.0min
12.9pts
2.5reb
FG45.0%304/675
3P39.5%187/473
FT88.9%80/90

2.8 assists a game

John Collins New here F · age 29 · 23.7 projected min 2025-26: 69 g, 13.6 pts, 5.3 reb, 1.0 ast

2025-26 · LAC

69games
27.1min
13.6pts
5.3reb
FG55.2%364/659
3P40.6%89/219
FT76.6%118/154

1.0 assists a game

2024-25 · UTAH

40games
30.5min
18.9pts
8.2reb
FG52.7%280/531
3P39.9%59/148
FT84.8%139/164

2.0 assists a game

2023-24 · UTAH

68games
27.9min
15.1pts
8.5reb
FG53.2%397/746
3P37.1%86/232
FT79.5%147/185

1.1 assists a game

Daniss Jenkins G · age 25 · 17.6 projected min 2025-26: 72 g, 9.3 pts, 2.3 reb, 3.9 ast

2025-26 · DET

72games
20.2min
9.3pts
2.3reb
FG40.8%232/568
3P37.4%73/195
FT83.2%134/161

3.9 assists a game

2024-25 · DET

6games
3.8min
1.2pts
0.3reb
FG30.0%3/10
3P14.3%1/7
FT0.0%0/2

0.5 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Isaiah Joe New here G · age 27 · 17.1 projected min 2025-26: 71 g, 11.1 pts, 2.5 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · OKC

71games
21.2min
11.1pts
2.5reb
FG45.5%247/543
3P42.3%181/428
FT89.4%110/123

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · OKC

75games
21.7min
10.2pts
2.7reb
FG43.9%261/595
3P40.9%193/472
FT82.8%48/58

1.6 assists a game

2023-24 · OKC

78games
18.5min
8.2pts
2.3reb
FG45.8%222/485
3P41.6%147/353
FT86.5%45/52

1.3 assists a game

Paul Reed F · age 27 · 17.0 projected min 2025-26: 65 g, 7.8 pts, 4.5 reb, 1.2 ast

2025-26 · DET

65games
13.8min
7.8pts
4.5reb
FG61.7%209/339
3P32.5%13/40
FT66.4%73/110

1.2 assists a game

2024-25 · DET

45games
9.8min
4.1pts
2.7reb
FG50.7%72/142
3P28.6%8/28
FT76.2%32/42

1.0 assists a game

2023-24 · PHI

82games
19.4min
7.3pts
6.0reb
FG54.0%259/480
3P36.8%21/57
FT71.8%61/85

1.3 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.