The Detroit Pistons released their season schedule on Friday, and now we know that Cade Cunningham will suit up for his first professional game at Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 20 as his Pistons take on the Chicago Bulls.
That checks off one of the biggest boxes of any schedule release. The next most interesting question — after selecting first overall how many times will the Pistons be on national TV? Fans are likely to be disappointed in the answer. Detroit has just one nationally televised game on basic cable — a Nov. 10 matchup against Jalen Green and the Houston Rockets. The Pistons will also have four games broadcast on NBA TV against Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, Golden State and Orlando, respectively.
Hey, if you’re only going to have one game on ESPN, at least it will be a home game where Jalen Green gets booed heartily.
Next biggest question on my mind — how many back-to-backs will the Pistons have? The answer there is 12.
And now an answer to a question I never considered before — how much rest do the Pistons get compared to their opponents? The geniuses at Positive Residual crunched those numbers, and apparently, the Pistons have the most games (17) with a “trust rest advantage.”
Thread: My NBA Calendar app has been updated with the 2021-22 season schedule. The Pistons have the most games with a true rest advantage (17), whereby they have at least one day of rest while they play an opponent without rest. https://t.co/kRbrpZsqh2 pic.twitter.com/4nsvsKGfNX
— Positive Residual (@presidual) August 20, 2021
Using the fancy tools at Positive Residual’s website, you can see that Detroit will travel just under 38,000 miles this season, which ranks as the seventh-least in the NBA. They are also one of six teams with just 12 back-to-backs. The Pistons will also have the eighth-toughest schedule in the NBA.
The Pistons announced their schedule in conjunction with a new partnership with Shopify to help promote local businesses. They turned the schedule release video and their mission to “restore” the Pistons franchise in Troy Weaver’s words into the restoration of a house in metro Detroit.
The Shopify partnership will see the Pistons promote local Detroit businesses throughout the season, and some of those same businesses helped restore the actual house while Hooper and Rick Mahorn had a little fun.
Detroit Pistons 2021-2022 Full Schedule
| Day | Date | Opponent | Time | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Date | Opponent | Time | TV |
| Wed. | Oct. 20 | Chicago | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Oct. 23 | at Chicago | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Oct. 25 | at Atlanta | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Oct. 28 | at Philadelphia | 7:00 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Sat. | Oct. 30 | Orlando | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Oct. 31 | atBrooklyn | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Nov. 2 | Milwaukee | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Nov. 4 | Philadelphia | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Nov. 5 | Brooklyn | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Nov. 10 | at Houston | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Fri. | Nov. 12 | at Cleveland | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Nov. 13 | at Toronto | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Nov. 15 | Sacramento | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Nov. 17 | Indiana | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Nov. 19 | Golden State | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Nov. 2 | 1 L.A. Lakers | 6:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Nov. 23 | Miami | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Nov. 24 | at Milwaukee | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Nov. 26 | at L.A. Clippers | 3:30 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Nov. 28 | at L.A. Lakers | 9:30 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Nov. 30 | at Portland | 10:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Dec. 2 | at Phoenix | 9:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Dec. 6 | Oklahoma City | 7:00 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Wed. | Dec. 8 | Washington | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Dec. 10 | at New Orleans | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Dec. 12 | Brooklyn | 6:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Dec. 14 | at Chicago | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Dec. 16 | at Indiana | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Dec. 18 | Houston | 12:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Dec. 19 | Miami | 6:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Dec. 21 | at New York | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Dec. 23 | at Miami | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Dec. 26 | at San Antonio | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Dec. 29 | New York | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Jan. 1 | San Antonio | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Jan. 3 | at Milwaukee | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Jan. 5 | at Charlotte | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Jan. 6 | at Memphis | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Jan. 8 | Orlando | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Jan. 10 | Utah | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Jan. 12 | Phoenix | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Jan. 14 | Toronto | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Jan. 18 | at Golden State | 10:00 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Wed. | Jan. 19 | at Sacramento | 10:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Jan. 21 | at Utah | 9:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Jan. 23 | at Denver | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Jan. 25 | Denver | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Jan. 28 | at Orlando | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Jan. 30 | Cleveland | 6:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Feb. 1 | New Orleans | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Feb. 3 | Minnesota | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Feb. 4 | Boston | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Feb. 6 | at Minnesota | 3:30 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Feb. 8 | at Dallas | 8:30 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Feb. 10 | Memphis | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Feb. 11 | Charlotte | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Feb. 14 | at Washington | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Feb. 16 | at Boston | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Feb. 24 | Cleveland | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Feb. 26 | Boston | 12:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Feb. 27 | at Charlotte | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Mar. 1 | at Washington | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Mar. 3 | at Toronto | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Mar. 4 | Indiana | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Mar. 7 | Atlanta | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Mar. 9 | Chicago | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Mar. 11 | at Boston | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Mar. 13 | L.A. Clippers | 3:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Mar. 15 | at Miami | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Mar. 17 | at Orlando | 7:00 p.m. | NBA TV |
| Sat. | Mar. 19 | at Cleveland | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Mon. | Mar. 21 | Portland | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Mar. 23 | Atlanta | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Mar. 25 | Washington | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Mar. 27 | New York | 3:30 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Mar. 29 | at Brooklyn | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Mar. 31 | Philadelphia | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Apr. 1 | at Oklahoma City | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Apr. 3 | at Indiana | 5:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Apr. 6 | Dallas | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Apr. 8 | Milwaukee | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Apr. 10 | at Philadelphia | TBD | |
| BACK-TO-BACK SETS (12) | ||||
| (Home-Away) | ||||
| Day | Date | Opponent | Time | |
| Sat. | Oct. 30 | Orlando | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Oct. 31 | at Brooklyn | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Nov. 23 | Miami | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Nov. 24 | at Milwaukee | 12:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Feb. 26 | Boston | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Feb. 27 | at Charlotte | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Mar. 31 | Philadelphia | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Apr. 1 | Oklahoma City | 8:00 p.m. | |
| (Away-Home) | ||||
| Thu. | Mar. 3 | at Toronto | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Mar. 4 | Indiana | 7:00 p.m. | |
| (Home-Home) | ||||
| Thu. | Nov. 4 | Philadelphia | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Nov. 5 | Brooklyn | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Dec. 18 | Houston | 12:00 p.m. | |
| Sun. | Dec. 19 | Miami | 6:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Feb. 3 | Minnesota | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Feb. 4 | Boston | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Feb. 10 | Memphis | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Fri. | Feb. 11 | Charlotte | 7:00 p.m. | |
| (Away-Away) | ||||
| Fri. | Nov. 12 | at Cleveland | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Sat. | Nov. 13 | at Toronto | 7:30 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Jan. 5 | at Charlotte | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Thu. | Jan. 6 | at Memphis | 8:00 p.m. | |
| Tue. | Jan. 18 | at Golden State | 10:00 p.m. | |
| Wed. | Jan. 19 | at Sacramento | 10:00 p.m. |