The Detroit Lions locked down their defense on May 21, 2026, by signing linebacker Jack Campbell to a four-year, $81 million contract extension. But while the NFL franchise is securing its future, Detroit's basketball counterpart is still taking heat for its stagnation. On The Bill Simmons Podcast, host Bill Simmons slammed the front office's trade deadline silence, noting, "Detroit's GM not doing anything at the trade deadline, which we all killed them on on every podcast we have."
The historical post-mortems didn't stop there. Max Kellerman brought up one of the franchise's biggest draft blunders on the show, wondering what would have happened if Detroit had drafted Carmelo Anthony, asking, "What are we saying about him now?" Kellerman also recalled the physical toll the team used to inflict on opponents, pointing to the year Scottie Pippen "got the migraine against the Pistons." On The Ringer NBA Show, Logan Murdock also invoked that brutal era, recalling when the Pistons "beat the shit out of him" during the 1990 playoffs.
Not all retrospective talk is negative, however. Howard Beck on the same show reminded listeners of Detroit's former powerhouse status, pointing out that during a previous New York Knicks playoff run, "the Knicks did not face either of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. That was Detroit and Boston." Whether the current front office can rebuild that level of fear factor remains the ultimate question.