Pistons fans won’t have to wait to get their first look at No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham.
Cunningham will be at Little Caesars Arena for the Pistons’ season opener on Oct. 20 against the Chicago Bulls. The full NBA schedule was released on Friday, with all teams going back to an 82-game slate after being reduced to 72 games last season.
The Pistons and Bulls will finish a home-and-home combo on Saturday, Oct. 23 in Chicago.
The Pistons finished 20-52 last season and received the top pick after the draft lottery. They selected Cunningham, who was one of the standouts at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas this month.
The No. 2 pick, Jalen Green, went to the Houston Rockets, and created a stir when he said that he thought he should have been the top pick. Green went further in saying that he didn’t want to come to Detroit.
Green will make his first appearance at Little Caesars Arena — and should get a raucous reception from the fans — on Dec. 18 at noon. The Pistons’ only nationally-televised game will be at Houston on Nov. 10.
Other games of interest include home matchups against the defending-champion Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 2 and April, along with games against the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 5 and Dec. 12.
One of the toughest stretches will be the west coast trip, which is nine days and will have difficult games in Los Angeles against the Lakers and Clippers and at Phoenix. A road matchup against the Bucks starts that road trip.
The marquee games at Little Caesars Arena will include the Lakers (Nov. 21), Warriors (Nov. 19) and defending Western Conference-champion Phoenix Suns (Jan. 12).
rod.beard@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard