NBA: Power ranking the 17 most dynamic young cores with the highest upside

7. Detroit Pistons

Young core: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, Ron Holland, Ausar Thompson

It's easy to knock the Detroit Pistons as they've been an easy target considering their disappointing showing on the floor and in the win/loss column, but in a vacuum, it's hard not to be excited about the possibilities of this team's young core. No, the Pistons are not perfect. In fact, you can probably argue they're in a difficult position heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. However, they do have one of the most talented young cores in the league. The biggest problem for the Pistons is that this young core still hasn't begun to reach its ceiling.

But if that does begin to change soon, the entire narrative around this team will change too. The least concern revolves around Cade Cunningham who has already shown great flashes of brilliance through the first few years of his career. Making that jump to stardom is all that remains for Cunningham. Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren are two other young players who could be on a similar developmental path.

Ausar Thompson did show some strong signs in his rookie year but needs to develop an outside shot as he continues to develop. I wasn't a big fan of taking Ron Holland as high as the Pistons did but he has the tools to be a very good player in the NBA one day.