NBA Notes: Pistons, Cade Cunningham, Thunder, Nikola Topic, Bulls

Pistons

The Pistons won 60 games last season, so naturally we’ve reached the point where people are deciding which players Detroit should refuse to trade under any circumstances.

Ethan Pitts of NBA on SI offered three: Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson and rookie Ebuka Okorie.

Cunningham is the obvious one. He earned first-team All-NBA honors last season and is under contract through 2030. Unless someone calls Detroit with an offer that begins with another franchise player, there isn’t much of a conversation to have.

Thompson is becoming nearly as important to what Detroit does. He made first-team All-Defense last season, and Pitts pointed to something Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said after Cleveland’s seven-game playoff series against the Pistons.

“The tactical adjustment we made was avoiding (Ausar) Thompson,” Atkinson said. “We were just like, if he’s near the ball, throw it to someone else.”

That’s a pretty good endorsement. Okorie is the interesting name. Detroit traded up from No. 21 to No. 17 to select the Stanford guard in June, and Pitts argues that investment, combined with his rookie-scale contract and upside behind Cunningham, already makes him somebody the Pistons would be reluctant to include in a deal.

Maybe “untouchable” is strong for someone who hasn’t played an NBA minute. But Cunningham? Yeah. Don’t bother calling.

Thunder

Nikola Topic has already endured more than most players do before getting their NBA careers started. Now comes the basketball part.

Grayson Buchanan of NBA on SI suggests this could be a particularly important season for Topic, whose 2027-28 team option is worth nearly $7.5 million.

Topic missed what would’ve been his rookie season after suffering a torn ACL, then had his debut delayed again after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. He eventually returned and made his Thunder debut in February.

Oklahoma City now gets something it hasn’t really had with Topic — a chance to evaluate him over something resembling a normal season.

That’s important because the Thunder’s financial decisions aren’t getting any easier. Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell are among the young players approaching new contracts, and OKC has already begun making difficult roster choices with the second apron in mind.

Topic will make about $5.5 million this season. If he shows why Oklahoma City made him a lottery pick in 2024, exercising the next option becomes considerably easier.

First, though, it would just be nice to see what he can do with basketball being the biggest concern.

Bulls

The Bulls may have found themselves a pretty good one at No. 11 in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Elias Schuster of NBA on SI makes the case that Matas Buzelis already looks like one of that draft’s biggest steals after a breakout second season.

There’s certainly evidence. Buzelis averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks last season, then bumped his scoring average to 20.2 over his final 19 games.

He also led the entire 2024 draft class with 1,252 total points and finished second among second-year players with 116 blocks.

He wasn’t merely accumulating numbers, either. Buzelis shot nearly 35 percent from three on more than six attempts per game, an encouraging development given that perimeter shooting was one of his biggest questions entering the league.

Now Chicago has Buzelis alongside Caleb Wilson as it leans fully into its youth movement.

There are no guarantees with rebuilds, of course. But landing a 6-foot-10 forward at No. 11 who is already scoring, protecting the rim and showing signs of becoming a legitimate perimeter threat?

The Bulls have had worse things happen.