Pistons have no players at All-Star weekend for first time in 35 years

NBA All-Star weekend has finally arrived with the best and brightest in the NBA descending on New Orleans.

For me, and perhaps other Pistons fans, this year feels different. It’s not just that the Pistons are disappointing this year -- we’ve had plenty of that in the past decade. I just can’t seem to drum up any enthusiasm or excitement for the game, the 3-point contest, the dunk contest, even the skills challenge featuring Nikola Jokic.

What was happening? Then I realized maybe the problem was that there are zero Pistons in any of the featured events -- not the All-Star game or Rising Stars game; nor the 3-point, dunk or skills contests.

Weird. I figured it must be pretty rare. So I started digging into the archives. Pistons have been blessed with plenty of All-Star talent in the Bad Boys and Going to Work years, and when they’re on a downswing they have exciting young players like Andre Drummond and Grant Hill.

I realized, if this year feels different for Pistons fans that is because it is different. This is the first year that no Pistons player will be taking part in All-Star weekend since Isiah Thomas’ rookie year in 1982.

Every year since then a Pistons player has been a part of either the All-Star game or the Rising Stars game. I guess it shouldn’t be a huge surprise considering there are a lot of roster spots to fill. Still, I thought there would be a lean year in the late 90s. Nope.

I found the topic so fascinating that I spent way too much time building this quiz in Sporcle. Can you ID all the Pistons participants in All-Star weekend since 1981 in under 5 minutes?