The Detroit Pistons lost their 26th straight game on Saturday, 126-115, against the Brooklyn Nets, and this one was the most historic of the streak so far. By falling to Brooklyn, Detroit tied the NBA’s record for the longest losing streak in a single season in NBA history. With Saturday’s loss, now three teams have lost 26 games in a row in a single season: the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2014-15 Philadelphia 76ers and the 2023-24 Pistons.
The Pistons still have a bit of ground left ahead of them to try to avoid the worst losing streak in league history. That dubious distinction belongs to the 76ers at 28 games, though it was spread between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. Two more losses would bring the Pistons into a tie with the 76ers. Three would give them sole control of one of the NBA’s least desirable records.
So what awaits the Pistons in their desperate bid to win a single game? They’ll face the Nets again on Tuesday, but that game will be in Detroit. The possible record-tying game No. 28 is a near certain loss: a road game in Boston on Dec. 28, where the Celtics have won all 14 of their games so far this season. To break the record, the Pistons would then need to lose their 29th consecutive game at home against the reeling Toronto Raptors, who have now lost nine of their past 12, but also beat the Pistons by 29 the last time they faced off. That game will take place on Dec. 30.
Should the Pistons get to 29 straight losses, they’d then have a very strong chance of breaking the record for the longest streak of any kind in NBA history. The NBA’s longest winning streak is 33 games and belongs to the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. After that Raptors game, the Pistons go on a four-game Western Conference road trip against the Rockets, Nuggets, Warriors and Jazz.
The Rockets and Nuggets are a combined 23-4 at home, so those are both likely losses. The Warriors are a bit more vulnerable, but have far more top-end talent, and if the Pistons couldn’t beat the compromised version of the Jazz they faced on Thursday, then beating them on their home floor does not seem especially likely. The hypothetical 34th consecutive loss would come at home against the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 9. Should Detroit actually hit that mark, their losing streak would have spanned roughly 41% of the entire season.
Even if the Pistons don’t reach 34 or even 29 straight losses, their streak is without question to most disappointing in league history. The 2010-11 Cavaliers were reeling from the loss of LeBron James, while the 2014-15 76ers were among the most brazen tankers the league has ever seen. But the Pistons expected to compete for a play-in spot this season. They made Monty Williams one of the highest-paid coaches in NBA history with a six-year, $78 million deal. They held onto Bojan Bogdanovic at last year’s trade deadline, hoping he would help them win this season. Instead, they have somehow been even worse than last year’s 17-65 Pistons despite having former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham healthy this time around.
It’s a failure on every level of the organization, and, now, it is officially a historic one. It can only get worse from here, and if the previous 26 games are any indication, it almost certainly will.
