The Detroit Pistons are an American professional Basketball team based out of Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference Central Division.
The team was founded as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1937 as a semi-professional team. Four years later, the team joined the National Basketball League as a member in 1941. During their time in the NBL, the team won two championships in 1944 and 1945. This success may have helped lead the team to joining the Basketball Association of America in 1948. After the NBL and the BAA merged to become the NBA in 1949, the team became part of the new league. They then moved out to their new home in Detroit where they found three championship seasons and several conference and divisional title seasons.
Detroit Pistons Team Uniform
After the team moved to Detroit in 1957, the Pistons kept their uniforms unchanged for two decades. The team’s jerseys featured the word “Pistons” in blue block lettering since that was seen as more than enough for their new home identity. But this changed in the 1978-79 season when the team uniform featured lightning bolts on the sides and in the wordmark on the front of the jerseys.
The lightning bolt theme was later abandoned, with the jerseys returning to the classic block lettering and simple side paneling in 1981. This classic look remained until 1996 when the colors were changed to teal, black, yellow, and red, with a new logo that featured a horse’s head and a flaming mane. But this design was later changed in 2001, when the team returned to the traditional red, white, and blue that formed the classic look.
Today, the team uses four different jersey uniforms that pay homage to the city of Detroit, the team Icon, the team Association, and a gray statement uniform.
About Little Caesars Stadium
Little Caesars Arena is an incredible multi-purpose arena that lies in Midtown Detroit. After $862.9 million in construction costs, the arena opened to the public on September 5, 2017. It became the home arena for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) as well as the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
What makes this arena stand out among others is its unique clear plastic roofed concourse that connects the arena to offices and shops surrounding it. Which makes sense since it was the flagship of a brand new $2.1 billion sports and entertainment district that would be spread across 650,000 square feet of space. The District Detroit, with mixed-use neighborhoods, would make it a major part of Detroit’s culture.
And fans certainly loved how the arena pays homage to the original arena. For example, after every Red Wings goal, a record of the horn used at Joe Louis Arena from 1994 to 2017 would blare. As it turned out, the Red Wings wanted to bring the old horn to the new arena, but the acoustics at Little Caesars made the old horn impossible to hear over the cheers of fans. So they decided that a high-quality recording was the next best option.
Basketball Achievements
The Pistons are no stranger to exceptional seasons.
Ever since the team first joined, they have earned 3 championships (1989, 1990, 2004), 5 Conference titles (1988, 1989, 1990, 2004, 2005), and 11 Division Titles (1955, 1956, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008).
But more than that, the team has also fielded players who have earned recognition for their performance. From MVP players to Coaches of the Year, it’s easy to see that the Pistons are a team that raises winners.