The Detroit Pistons are entering the 2025-26 season with shooting being the most important question. After the departures of Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr., the Pistons lost a bulk of their made three-pointers from a season ago. While the addition of Duncan Robinson should alleviate some of those concerns, Cade Cunningham will surely begin the season without as much spacing as he would ideally like.
That is, unless the Pistons can find some shooting from an unexpected source. Fortunately, it looks like rookie Chaz Lanier may be able to give the Pistons what they are looking for.
Pistons Rookie Chaz Lanier May Emerge as a Surprise Contributor
The 37th-overall pick in the draft, Lanier is showing his skill set that made him an NBA prospect. In the first two preseason games, the 6'3" shooting guard has taken 12 threes and made five of them for a 41.7% from downtown. Perhaps more impressive than his accuracy is how quickly and variedly Lanier can get threes up. In today's NBA, being able to get three pointers up to provide spacing is almost as important as making the shots you take.
Between the Summer League, where he attempted 8.2 threes in 23.7 minutes per game, and his preseason display, Lanier has shown that capable of being the high-volume high-accuracy shooter the Pistons desperately need.
Lanier will be an older rookie, turning 24 in December. This means that the Pistons would ideally want him to be an immediate contributor. Shooting is a relatively easy skill to translate to the NBA compared to other aspects of the game. Lanier was a 40% three-point shooter during his five-year college stint between North Florida and Tennessee. If he can translate that to the league, he should have a long NBA career.
What will help Lanier become more than a bench volume shooter will be his defense. He had a solid defensive play that ended with a block in his first preseason game against the Grizzlies. He needs to be an active, high-effort player on that end of the floor to earn extended minutes from JB Bickerstaff. The Pistons head coach will usually gravitate towards defense-first players, but he also needs to make things easier for Cunningham offensively. And that requires as much shooting as possible.
As long as Lanier makes shots, he will have a clear path to playing time. So far, he is off to a good start, and that is all you can ask from a second-round pick in his first preseason.