The Detroit Pistons need to add shooting and could do it in the 2025 NBA Draft with a player like Chaz Lanier from Tennessee.
Lanier just finished his senior season and will be 23.5 years old at the time of the draft, which is why some experts have him sliding to the Pistons with the 37th pick after a monster final season at Tennessee.
That speculation was boosted by a report by Omari Sankofa II that revealed the Pistons had Lanier scheduled for a pre-draft workout today.
Lanier was one of the premier 3-point shooters in the country, hitting just under 40 percent on 8.2 attempts per game, and this was after a season for North Florida where he shot an impressive 44 percent on 7.5 attempts per game.
Lanier is an elite shooter off the bounce or in catch and shoot situations who averaged 18 points per game for Tennessee this year after transferring. He’s got an NBA frame already at 6-foot-4 and nearly 200 lbs. and scouts think his 3-point shot is NBA-ready right now.
The question with Lanier is whether he is athletic enough to get open in the NBA or to beat bigger defenders off the bounce, but teams will always take a chance on an elite shooter.
Lanier is already older than most of the Pistons’ core, a player with maturity who could be a plug-and-play shooter, which might give us a glimpse of what the Pistons will be looking for in the draft.
The Pistons could target a player who is ready to play now
The second round has become more important in the tax apron era, as getting a productive player on a lowball deal makes it easier to build quality depth, which will be a requirement for success now that the era of the “Big 3” is officially dead.
Finding that gem won’t be easy even though there is arguably more talent in the draft now than ever before given the influx of international players. However, NIL money in college has kept some of the top second-round prospects out of the draft, so we may see more older players taken in those spots.
The Pistons need more shooting, and they don’t have a lot of ways to get it with limited cap space, so nailing this draft pick with a guy who could potentially contribute early in his career would be huge for Detroit’s overall team building.
He’d also give them a possibe heir apparent to Malik Beasley whether they are able to bring the free agent back or not.
It will be interesting to see if the Pistons plan more workouts with these types of players, guys who may not have the ceiling of teenagers, but who have an NBA-ready skill that may be useful right away.