Detroit Pistons Shakeup Starting Five vs Washington Wizards

On By Littum

*UPDATE: Pistons start Jalen Duren over Isaiah Stewart. The team corrected its original lineup announcement, according to Omari Sankofa.

On Friday night, the Detroit Pistons started a short road trip with a win over the Toronto Raptors. Now they head to Washington to take on Eastern Conference contenders the Wizards.

Over the past week and change, the Pistons have dealt with a handful of injuries to key players. This has resulted in JB Bickerstaff constantly having to adjust his starting line-up. It will be like that again on Sunday against the Washington Wizards.

Detroit starts the game with a starting lineup consisting of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Malik Beasley, Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart. The veteran sharpshooter remains in the first unit as Tim Hardaway Jr. continues to recover from a head injury he suffered against the Miami Heat.

Beasley has been on a hot streak of late, but has really kicked things up since entering the starting lineup. He made his first start of the year against his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks. In that overtime game, he had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds along with eight made threes.

Bickerstaff kept Beasley in the first unit against the Raptors, and he put together another strong outing. In 30 minutes of action, he scored a team-high 20 points on 53.3% shooting from the field.

The only change comes in the center position. Bickerstaff will favor Isaiah Stewart over Jalen Duren this time around. Since Stewart’s defense has often been a big boost to Detroit’s bench, it seems Bickerstaff is interested in seeing what he could bring to the table if the roles were reversed.

The Pistons enter Sunday winners of three of their last five games. If they are able to take care of business against Washington, it will put them just one game below .500. As for Kyle Kuzma and company, they currently have the third-worst record in the East at 2-9.