Fox Sports Detroit will air all Detroit Pistons’ 37 first-half games, three preseason games

Fox Sports Detroit will once again be the televised home of Detroit Pistons basketball, the network announced. FSD will air all 37 regulear-season games in the Pistons’ first-half schedule as well as three of the team’s four preseason games.

Things kick off Friday with the 7 p.m. preseason opener against the New York Knicks. The regular season begins Dec. 23 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The network will not air the preseason finale against the Washington Wizards on Dec. 19.

“We are all ecstatic to have basketball back,” said Greg Hammaren, senior vice president/general manager, FOX Sports Detroit, in a release. “The Pistons certainly created a buzz at the Draft and in free agency. Watching this season unfold is something we’re very excited about. FSD is fully committed to delivering Pistons fans some of the best content throughout the NBA this season.”

The broadcast team of George Blaha and Greg Kelser will return with Grant Long and Tim McCormick spolitting analyst duties on Pistons LIVE and Johnny Kane and Mickey York working as sideline reporters and hosts for game coverage, the network announced.

Review Detroit Pistons first-half schedule.

The final game of the first half is slated to be March 2 against the Toronto Raptors. The second half of the season schedule will be released at a later date.

While this is welcome news to many fans who subscribe to cable and satellite packages, it’s tougher for the cord cutters out there.

Hulu dropped Fox Sports regional networks from Live TV plans in late October and YouTubeTV dropped the channels at the beginning of October. Often, these packages are dropped during contract negotiations while the two sides argue over terms, however, there is no sign if or when the Sinclair-owned regional sports networks will return to these streaming providers.