MILWAUKEE — Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey made his season debut on Saturday night, and he was still struggling to process his emotions after being sidelined for more than 10 months and undergoing two surgeries.
In his first regular season game since Jan. 1, Ivey scored 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting with a pair of assists and a steal in 15 minutes off the bench in Detroit’s 129-116 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pistons’ 12th straight victory.
“Just cherished the moment to be back out there tonight,” Ivey said after the game. “Going into it, I was just trying to get my mind wrapped around it just because it’s been so long. It took a while for me to get used to it. Get used to warming up and just going through the normal routine again. But it was just so much gratitude to be out there again.”
Ivey broke the fibula in his left leg during a game on New Year’s Day that forced him to miss the remainder of last season. He appeared in one game during the preseason before discomfort in his right knee required him to have right knee surgery on Oct. 16.
“It’s like seeing him in his natural state,” Pistons guard Cade Cunningham said. “Having the jersey on, playing, being on the court. It’s like seeing him at home. And he looked good today. I thought he looked really comfortable out there. Doesn’t look like he’s missed as much time as he has. So it is a credit to his work and how much time he’s put into it, but we’re all just super happy for him being back out there.”
Ivey’s return comes in the midst of the one of the Pistons hottest stretches in franchise history.
The 12-game winning streak matches the third-longest in franchise history. The team record is 13, which has happened twice (in 1989-90 and 2003-04). The Pistons won the NBA championships at the end of each of those seasons.
“When I last played, it was so different,” Ivey said. “I feel like we found it as a team, a niche with the team and just connecting with the guys.”
Detroit also snapped a 13-game losing streak to Milwaukee, which had swept the season series between the two teams in each of the past three seasons. At shootaround before the game on Saturday morning, Cunningham made a point to remind his teammates of how long it has been since they beat Milwaukee.
“I think it’s important,” said Cunningham, who finished with 29 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. “I don’t think any franchise should have that over ours. We take playing for the Pistons seriously. So that’s part of representing this, putting the edge to things like that and starting new streaks in our favor.”
And Saturday’s win also highlighted the stark turnaround for Detroit over the past few seasons. Two seasons ago, in 2023-24, the Pistons finished with the worst record in the NBA at 14-68. After Saturday’s win, Detroit has the best record in the Eastern Conference at 14-2.
“The biggest thing is we’re still hungry,” Pistons center Jalen Duren said. “Not everybody in here went through that with us, but the guys who were here truly understand and still feel, we got a lot to prove. “It feels good. Like I keep saying, it’s early in the season so we’re nowhere. We still got a lot more room to go, and a lot more room to grow.”
