DETROIT — Chaz Lanier’s career has required patience.

As a little-known recruit out of The Ensworth School in Tennessee with two Division I offers, Lanier spent three seasons primarily as a bench player for North Florida.

He watched a lot from the sidelines before finally breaking out as one of the best pure shooters in the country and spending his final season at Tennessee and being selected 37th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft .

Patience brought Lanier to the Detroit Pistons and it’s only a month into his rookie season that the 23-year-old guard is already proving he belongs.

“There’s a maturity to his game,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Monday. “His teammates know he’s capable, so they find him. He’s got a grown-man game and plays at a grown-man pace, not like other rookies w

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