The Detroit Pistons began their history in 1937 as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, a semi-professional company basketball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They would turn professional in 1941 when they joined the National Basketball League (NBL). In 1948, the team was renamed the Fort Wayne Pistons and joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), merging with the NBL to form the NBA one year later. After nine seasons in Fort Wayne, the team relocated to Detroit in 1957 to compete financially with other big city teams.

To help the Pistons acquire local players, territorial picks were instituted from 1949 until 1965. Territorial picks were used as a type of special draft choice used in the NBA draft. Prior to the league's draft, a team could forfeit its first round draft pick and select a player from within . Territorial picks were then eliminated when the draft was revamped in 1966. Before the 1989 NBA draft, the draft had more than two rounds. After 1989, the NBA agreed with the National Basketball Players' Association to limit drafts to two rounds. Teams can also trade their picks, so some years a team could have more than or less than two picks.

Key Abbreviation Meaning Abbreviation MeaningT Territorial pick G GuardPG Point guard SG Shooting guardF Forward SF Small forwardPF Power forward C Center Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer (#) Retired Pistons' Number Selected for an NBA All-Star GameFirst overall NBA draft pick

Pistons (1957–present) Year Round Pick Name Nationality From 2026 1 21 New Zealand Breakers (New Zealand) 2025 2 37 University of Tennessee 2024 1 5 NBA G League Ignite 2024 2 53 University of Connecticut 2023 1 5 Overtime Elite 2023 1 25 University of Houston 2022 1 5 Purdue 2022 2 46 Paris Basketball 2021 1 1 Oklahoma State 2021 2 37 Auburn 2021 2 42 Michigan 2021 2 52 Iowa 2020 1 7 Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany) 2019 1 15 Limoges CSP 2019 2 45 Nebraska 2018 2 38 Creighton 2018 2 42 Miami 2017 1 12 Duke 2016 1 18 Marquette 2016 2 49 Syracuse 2015 1 8 Arizona 2015 2 38 Villanova 2014 2 38 Colorado 2013 1 8 Georgia 2013 2 37 North Texas 2013 2 56 Louisville 2012 1 9 Connecticut 2012 2 39 Texas A&M 2012 2 44 Missouri 2011 1 8 Kentucky 2011 2 33 Duke 2011 2 52 Florida 2010 1 7 Georgetown 2010 2 35 Mississippi 2009 1 15 Gonzaga 2009 2 35 Georgetown 2009 2 39 Angelico Biella (Italy) 2009 2 44 Arizona 2008 1 29 Indiana 2008 2 59 Virginia Tech 2007 1 15 Eastern Washington 2007 1 27 UCLA 2007 2 57 DePaul 2006 2 60 Iowa State 2005 1 26 Cincinnati 2005 2 56 Westchester HS, Los Angeles 2005 2 60 Pepperdine 2004 2 54 Missouri 2003 1 2 Hemofarm Vršac (Serbia and Montenegro and Adriatic League) 2003 1 25 Skipper Bologna (Italy) 2003 2 58 AEK Athens (Greece) 2002 1 23 Kentucky 2001 1 9 Charlotte 2001 2 37 Efes Pilsen (Turkey) 2000 1 14 Michigan State 2000 2 44 Purdue 1999 2 54 Cincinnati 1998 1 11 Ball State 1998 2 40 Hargrave Military Academy 1997 1 19 Kansas 1997 2 31 UCLA 1996 1 26 Georgetown 1995 1 18 Wyoming 1995 1 19 Wake Forest 1995 2 30 Massachusetts 1995 2 58 Georgetown 1994 1 3 Duke 1994 2 48 Missouri 1993 1 10 Jackson State 1993 1 11 Tennessee 1992 1 19 UCLA 1991 2 40 La Salle 1990 1 26 Texas 1989 1 27 Illinois 1988 2 30 Wyoming 1988 2 48 Baylor 1988 3 72 Norfolk State 1987 2 24 UNLV 1987 3 65 Pepperdine 1987 4 88 North Carolina 1987 5 111 Iowa 1987 6 134 Michigan 1987 7 157 Alabama 1986 1 11 Georgia Tech 1986 2 27 Southeastern Oklahoma 1986 4 86 Mississippi State 1986 5 109 Old Dominion 1986 6 132 Utah State 1986 7 155 Michigan State 1985 1 18 McNeese State 1985 3 60 Northwestern 1985 3 64 Evansville 1985 4 87 North Carolina State 1985 5 110 Murray State 1985 6 133 Eastern Michigan 1985 7 156 UNLV 1984 1 20 Ohio State 1984 2 32 Michigan 1984 3 66 Saint Joseph's 1984 4 89 New Mexico 1984 5 112 UTSA 1984 6 135 Louisiana Tech 1984 7 158 Bloomsburg 1984 8 181 Appalachian State 1984 9 203 Michigan State 1984 10 225 Michigan 1983 1 8 Wichita State 1983 3 55 Syracuse 1983 4 78 Indiana 1983 5 101 Rice 1983 6 124 Michigan State 1983 7 147 Colorado 1983 8 170 Augustana (IL) 1983 9 192 Eastern Michigan 1983 10 213 Michigan 1982 1 9 Wichita State 1982 1 18 Rice 1982 4 78 Western Michigan 1982 5 101 Florida Southern 1982 6 124 Minnesota 1982 7 147 Marquette 1982 8 170 Marquette 1982 9 193 Michigan State 1982 10 214 York (Ontario) 1981 1 2 Indiana 1981 1 12 Notre Dame 1981 4 71 John May South Alabama 1981 4 89 UNC Charlotte 1981 5 94 UNC Charlotte 1981 6 117 Iowa 1981 7 140 West Virginia 1981 8 163 Saint Francis (PA) 1981 9 185 Alcorn State 1981 10 205 Western Michigan 1980 1 17 Missouri 1980 2 45 SMU 1980 3 64 Furman 1980 4 70 Portland 1980 5 93 Pepperdine 1980 6 116 Alaska–Anchorage 1980 7 139 Gonzaga 1980 8 161 Fairmont State 1980 9 180 Huron 1979 1 4 Michigan State 1979 1 10 UCLA 1979 1 15 Michigan 1979 2 29 Pennsylvania 1979 3 48 Detroit 1979 5 92 UNLV 1979 6 111 Kentucky 1979 7 132 Saint Mary's 1979 8 150 Memphis State 1979 9 170 Central Michigan 1979 10 187 Grand Canyon 1978 2 23 Detroit 1978 2 29 Detroit 1978 5 95 Northeastern 1978 6 117 Illinois 1978 7 138 Johnson C. Smith 1978 8 157 UNLV 1978 9 174 Marquette 1978 10 189 Central Michigan 1977 2 36 Central Michigan 1977 3 58 Hofstra 1977 4 80 Iowa 1977 5 102 Missouri 1977 6 124 Kansas 1977 7 144 Johnson C. Smith 1977 8 163 Kenyon 1976 1 4 Alabama 1976 3 38 Rutgers 1976 4 55 Iowa 1976 5 72 Marymount (KS) 1976 6 90 Virginia Tech 1976 7 108 Puget Sound 1976 8 126 Illinois State 1976 9 144 Hartwick 1976 10 161 Wisconsin 1975 2 27 Ohio 1975 3 44 UCLA 1975 4 64 Michigan State 1975 5 81 Shaw 1975 6 98 North Carolina A&T 1975 7 118 Armstrong State 1975 8 135 Dillard 1975 9 151 Detroit 1975 10 169 Saint Mary's (Canada) 1974 1 15 Missouri 1974 2 33 Arizona 1974 3 51 New Mexico State 1974 4 69 Pittsburgh 1974 5 87 Temple 1974 6 105 Dayton 1974 7 123 Tulsa 1974 8 141 Drexel 1974 9 158 Millikin 1974 10 175 Vanderbilt 1973 3 44 Southwestern Louisiana 1973 3 50 Memphis State 1973 4 61 Michigan 1973 5 78 Michigan 1973 6 95 Ferris State 1973 7 112 Northwood 1973 8 129 Central Michigan 1973 9 145 Michigan State 1973 10 159 Wayne State 1973 11 171 Akron 1973 12 180 Ferris State 1972 1 9 Hawaii 1972 2 17 Villanova 1972 4 51 Jacksonville 1972 5 67 Western Michigan 1972 6 84 Wichita State 1972 7 101 Arizona 1972 8 117 Central Michigan 1972 9 133 Ferris State 1972 10 146 Kentucky 1971 1 11 UCLA 1971 2 29 Baltimore 1971 3 45 Utah State 1971 4 62 Duquesne 1971 5 79 Savannah State 1971 6 96 Providence 1971 7 113 Brigham Young 1971 8 130 Niagara 1971 9 146 Central Michigan 1971 10 162 Pikeville 1971 11 177 Duke 1971 12 190 Drake 1971 13 202 Wyoming 1971 14 212 Johnson C. Smith 1971 15 221 Alcorn State 1971 16 228 Detroit 1971 17 232 Detroit 1971 18 235 Lawrence Tech 1971 19 237 Shaw 1970 1 1 St. Bonaventure 1970 2 32 DePaul 1970 3 37 Hanover 1970 3 47 Boston University 1970 5 71 Long Beach State 1970 6 88 DePaul 1970 7 105 Michigan Lutheran High School 1970 8 122 Kentucky 1970 9 139 Dartmouth 1970 10 156 Nevada 1970 11 172 North Carolina State 1970 12 185 Cincinnati 1970 13 195 Harvard 1970 14 205 Buffalo State 1970 15 215 Springfield 1970 16 224 Eastern Michigan 1969 1 4 Boston College 1969 2 19 Alcorn State 1969 4 47 Washington State 1969 5 61 Toledo 1969 6 75 Trinity (TX) 1969 7 89 Duke 1969 8 103 Notre Dame 1969 9 117 Houston 1969 10 131 Winston-Salem State 1969 11 145 North Carolina 1968 1 6 Pan American 1968 2 20 Niagara 1968 3 25 St. Mary of the Plains 1968 4 42 Saint Louis 1968 5 56 Bethune–Cookman 1968 6 70 Creighton 1968 7 84 Long Island 1968 8 98 Saint Peter's 1968 9 112 Syracuse 1968 10 126 Nebraska 1967 1 1 Providence 1967 1 4 St. John's 1967 2 14 Georgetown 1967 3 21 Baylor 1967 4 33 Kansas 1967 5 45 Wake Forest 1967 6 57 Syracuse 1967 7 69 Rutgers 1967 8 81 St. Bonaventure 1967 12 125 Colgate 1967 13 135 Michigan State 1966 1 2 Syracuse 1966 2 12 Detroit 1966 3 22 Michigan 1966 4 32 Brigham Young 1966 5 42 Georgia Southern 1966 6 52 SMU 1966 7 61 North Carolina Central 1966 8 70 Southern Illinois 1965 T Michigan 1965 2 11 Indiana 1965 3 20 Notre Dame 1965 4 29 Oklahoma State 1965 5 38 North Carolina Central 1965 6 47 High Point 1964 1 2 Arizona State 1964 2 9 Loyola (Chicago) 1964 3 18 Villanova 1964 4 27 Colorado 1964 5 36 Toledo 1964 6 45 Rice 1964 7 54 Ohio 1964 8 63 Rockhurst 1963 1 4 Seattle 1963 2 12 Furman 1963 3 21 Miami (FL) 1963 4 30 Marquette 1963 5 39 Illinois 1963 6 48 Detroit Eastern High School 1963 7 57 New Mexico 1963 8 66 Northern Michigan 1963 9 71 Seattle 1962 T Detroit 1962 2 11 St. John's 1962 3 20 Texas Tech 1962 4 29 Detroit Eastern High School 1962 5 38 South Carolina 1962 6 47 Morehead State 1962 7 56 Lawrence 1962 8 64 Duquesne 1962 9 73 Hamline 1962 10 82 Oregon 1961 1 4 Portland 1961 2 12 Providence 1961 3 26 Duke 1961 4 35 Tennessee State 1961 5 44 Belmont Abbey 1961 6 53 West Virginia 1961 7 62 Wittenberg 1961 8 71 Hampton 1961 9 79 Kent State 1961 10 86 Northern Michigan 1961 11 94 Brockport State 1960 1 4 Louisiana Tech 1960 2 12 Minnesota 1960 3 20 Dayton 1960 4 28 West Virginia Wesleyan 1960 5 36 Northwestern 1960 6 44 Christian Brothers 1960 7 52 North Carolina 1960 8 59 Youngstown State 1960 9 66 Kentucky Wesleyan 1960 10 73 Dayton 1960 11 78 Wheaton (IL) 1960 12 83 Wheaton (IL) 1960 13 87 Hamline 1959 1 2 Mississippi State 1959 2 7 Rice 1959 2 8 Louisville 1959 3 16 Fresno State 1959 4 24 Michigan 1959 5 32 Wyoming 1959 6 40 Cornell 1959 7 48 Washington 1959 8 55 Pacific Lutheran 1959 9 61 Hardin–Simmons 1959 10 67 Washington 1959 11 73 Michigan 1958 2 10 Bradley 1958 3 18 Kansas State 1958 4 26 Western Kentucky 1958 5 34 Saint Peter's 1958 6 42 Bradley 1958 7 50 Western Michigan 1958 8 58 Michigan State 1958 9 65 North Dakota State 1958 10 71 Loyola (LA) 1958 11 76 Tennessee Tech 1958 12 80 Alabama State 1957 1 2 Louisville 1957 2 10 Grambling 1957 3 18 Detroit 1957 4 26 Saint Joseph's 1957 5 34 Michigan 1957 6 42 St. Francis (NY) 1957 7 50 San Francisco 1957 8 57 Minnesota 1957 9 64 Pittsburgh

As Fort Wayne Pistons (1948–1956) Year Round Pick Name From 1956 1 6 DePaul 1956 Tennessee Tech 1956 Maryland 1956 Holy Cross 1956 John Carroll 1956 Marshall 1956 3 22 Hofstra 1955 1 6 Dayton 1955 2 13 Penn State 1955 3 22 Washington State 1955 4 29 Case Western Reserve 1955 5 38 Wichita State 1955 LSU 1955 Colorado 1955 Spring Hill College 1955 Mercer 1955 Colorado 1955 Missouri 1955 TCU 1954 1 4 Notre Dame 1954 2 13 Oklahoma City 1954 3 22 Kansas 1954 4 31 NC State 1954 5 40 Pittsburgh 1954 6 49 Indiana 1954 7 58 Duke 1954 8 67 Valparaiso 1954 9 76 Loyola (MD) 1954 10 84 BYU 1954 11 93 Taylor 1953 1 3 Columbia 1953 Eastern Kentucky 1953 St. Bonaventure 1953 Illinois 1953 Fairleigh Dickinson 1953 Siena College 1953 Kansas 1953 Notre Dame 1953 Eastern Kentucky 1952 1 3 Duke 1952 Fordham 1952 Duquesne 1952 Iowa 1952 St. Bonaventure 1952 Dayton 1952 Stanford 1952 NC State 1951 1 4 Niagara 1951 2 13 Syracuse 1951 3 23 Northwestern 1951 4 33 Mississippi State 1951 5 43 Arizona 1951 6 53 Iowa 1951 7 63 Stanford 1951 8 73 Duquesne 1950 1 7 Stanford 1950 2 Tulane 1950 3 Tennessee 1950 4 Indiana State 1950 5 Kent State 1950 6 Valparaiso 1950 7 Tennessee 1950 8 Vanderbilt 1950 9 Northwest Missouri State 1949 1 3 Oklahoma A&M 1949 2 Western Kentucky 1949 3 West Virginia 1949 4 Loyola (IL) 1949 Toledo 1948 1 8 Indiana 1948 Wisconsin 1948 Arizona 1948 Kentucky 1948 Iowa

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