Isiah Thomas is not the Detroit Pistons’ new head coach, despite a viral Facebook post claiming the franchise brought its Hall of Fame point guard back to Detroit.
The post from Box Score PH declares, “The Bad Boy is back,” and says the Pistons hired Thomas as their new head coach. It attracted more than 1,000 reactions and hundreds of comments and shares within its first day online.
There’s just one fairly significant problem: J.B. Bickerstaff still has the job.
The Pistons’ official NBA team page lists Bickerstaff as Detroit’s head coach, with no Thomas anywhere on the coaching staff.
Isiah Thomas Head Coach Report Is Fake: Bickerstaff Still Coaches Pistons
This one doesn’t require much detective work.
Detroit announced a contract extension for Bickerstaff on May 4, following a season in which the Pistons went 60-22 and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Detroit also won its first playoff series since 2008. The Pistons did not disclose the length or financial terms of that extension.
More importantly, the team is still publicly identifying Bickerstaff as its coach four months later.
A Sept. 1 article published on the Pistons’ official website referred to Bickerstaff as Detroit’s head coach while examining the roster for the upcoming 2026-27 season.
Then came another fresh data point on Sept. 10.
The Motor City Cruise announced that Pistons assistant Steve Scalzi would become the G League club’s new head coach. The official release specifically noted that Scalzi had worked with the Pistons “under head coach J.B. Bickerstaff” during the previous season.
No coaching change. No Thomas appointment.
Why the Isiah Thomas Pistons Claim Looks Believable
Thomas’ connection to Detroit is real enough to give the fake report some oxygen.
He spent his entire NBA playing career with the Pistons and remains the franchise’s all-time leader in points, assists and steals, according to the team’s NBA page. He led Detroit to consecutive championships in 1989 and 1990.
That history makes “Isiah Thomas returns to coach the Pistons” sound plausible at a glance — particularly when packaged as breaking news with Pistons imagery.
But a coaching move of this magnitude would leave a substantial paper trail. Detroit would need to part with Bickerstaff only months after extending him, then announce Thomas’ hiring. The Pistons’ own current information instead continues to identify Bickerstaff as the coach.
And Detroit had little obvious reason to make such a move after last season.
Bickerstaff was named the National Basketball Coaches Association’s 2026 Coach of the Year after guiding the Pistons to their first 60-win season since 2005-06. He also received the Professional Basketball Writers Association’s Rudy Tomjanovich Award.
Thomas returning to the Pistons would certainly qualify as news.
For now, it qualifies as something else: a viral post contradicted by the Pistons themselves.
Isiah Thomas Head Coach Report Goes Viral, but Pistons News is Fake