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NBA Cup group play will officially begin for the Detroit Pistons on Friday night as they face off against the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center. It’ll be the first of four NBA Cup group play games for the Pistons.
The Pistons are in East Group A with the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, and Milwaukee Bucks. After falling short of the NBA Cup knockout stage last season, the Pistons, again one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, are poised to make a run this time. Here’s a preview of Friday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.
The top team in the Eastern Conference will face the worst team, the Brooklyn Nets, who are 0-4 and still searching for their first win of the season. The Nets' four losses this season have come to the Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, and Boston Celtics. The Nets and the Sacramento Kings (0-5) are the two NBA teams still looking for a win this season.
The Nets' latest 125-124 overtime loss to the Celtics on Tuesday was Brooklyn's closest call for a win this season. The near-upset at TD Garden is something the Nets hope to build on as they try to knock off the Pistons on Friday night.
To beat the Pistons on Friday night, the Nets must rely on their new duo of Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. Once considered a potential trade target for the Pistons, Porter Jr. has led the Nets this season, averaging 22.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game.
Randle has also made an impact in his first season in Brooklyn after two years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The former Minnesota and New York forward has scored 20-plus points three times this season already, including a season-high 33 points in the season-opening loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
The Nets hope to get another productive performance from Randle in their efforts to knock off the Pistons on Friday night and secure their first win of the 2026-27 NBA season. In the loss to the Celtics, Porter Jr. and Randle combined for 51 points.
As for the Pistons, Cade Cunningham, who is coming off his first 30-plus-point performance of the season in the recent 97-89 home win over the Charlotte Hornets, looks to carry that performance into the Barclays Center on Friday night.
With the recent hamstring strain to Jalen Duren that has left him sidelined for at least a two-week period, several Pistons have stepped up during his absence, most notably Daniss Jenkins and Paul Reed.
Jenkins and Reed, who have become key rotational pieces for the Pistons and have even seen their fair share of playing time as starters, have both scored in double figures in Detroit’s last two games against the Hornets and Knicks.
The former two-way player, Jenkins, who emerged last season as a key rotational piece after spending a majority of his time bouncing back and forth between the G League Motor City Cruise and the Pistons, continues to be a key piece of Detroit’s depth, with his improvement growing.
Can Reed and Jenkins continue their key contributions as Detroit opens up NBA Cup group play against the Nets? The tip-off between the Pistons and Nets is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. Last season, the Pistons went 3-1 against the Nets in their 2025-26 series. The Nets’ lone win came on March 7 at Little Caesars Arena, as Brooklyn won 107-105.
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