Tim Hardaway Jr. is not in Detroit anymore, and the Pistons’ playoff shooting is making that feel like a mistake. The team that did not re-sign him in the offseason instead pivoted to land Duncan Robinson in a sign-and-trade, but the move has not stopped the Pistons from looking short on perimeter scoring in the first round.
That lack of punch showed up again Saturday, when Cade Cunningham shot 8-of-23 from the field and finished with nine assists and nine turnovers. Ausar Thompson gave Detroit 17 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and three assists, and Tobias Harris added 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting, yet the Pistons still could not find enough reliable offense from outside.
The numbers explain why the Hardaway decision is under the microscope. Detroit averaged 30.6 three-point attempts per game in the regular season, the second-lowest mark in the league, and made 10.9 per game, also second-lowest. Hardaway had averaged nearly six threes a game with the Pistons last season, a volume that now stands out even more as the current roster struggles to create the same kind of spacing.
In the playoffs, Detroit is averaging 29 three-point attempts per game and eight makes. The Magic are averaging nine made threes per game and shooting 27.3% from deep, while Detroit is at 27.6%. That margin is small, but it matters because the Pistons already built their offense around a low-volume perimeter attack, and the postseason has only narrowed the room for error.
Hardaway has played more than six playoff games, so he is not a perfect answer to every postseason problem. But the comparison is still hard to miss: Detroit let a proven volume shooter walk, changed direction with Robinson, and is now trying to win games while its three-point output remains among the lowest in the field. The offense has enough pieces to compete, but not much margin if the shot chart stays this thin.
