WHEN CADE CUNNINGHAM scanned the locker room following a November win during a franchise-record 13-game winning streak, he spotted big man Isaiah Stewart , the longest-tenured member of the Detroit Pistons .

"That guy," Cunningham said quietly, "Is a winner."

One year before Cunningham joined Detroit as the No. 1 pick in 2021, Stewart was one of the very first draft picks made by former general manager Troy Weaver, the well-regarded executive hired away from the Oklahoma City Thunder and tasked with restoring the Pistons franchise. Stewart fit the blueprint of what they were attempting to build: an undersized, tough center and a throwback to the "Bad Boys" title teams of 1989 and 1990.

But in Stewart's first four seasons, the Pistons went 74-244. He showed promise as a rugged

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