The Detroit Pistons sat alone in ninth place in Eastern Conference with a 27-27 record, a full game behind the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls. The Pistons had lost three straight games, four of their last five and six of their last eight. The season that began with such promise as the Pistons roared out of the gate with a 5-1 record seemed to be slipping away from their grasp before February was even over.
Things changed early in the afternoon of February 16th when news came from the NBA that the Pistons had acquired Tobias Harris from the Orlando Magic for Brandon Jennings‘ expiring contract and Ersan Ilyasova‘s non-guaranteed contract.