According to ESPN, Daniss Jenkins, the generously listed 6-foot-4 guard who did not sign a standard NBA contract with the Detroit Pistons until February, hit a 3-pointer at the third-quarter horn in Sunday’s Game 7 against the Orlando Magic that pushed the lead to 19 as Detroit completed a comeback from being down 3-1 to win its first playoff series since 2008. The shot was accompanied by a visible sneer, the report says.
A Pistons assistant coach told ESPN, “There’s two things about him. He works hard and he talks s—.” Still, Jenkins has drawn a collective “who’s this guy?” response from some observers despite being a key figure during Detroit’s rise to the Eastern Conference’s top seed, the report says.
When Detroit’s top scorer missed three weeks in March and April with a punctured lung, Jenkins averaged 18.6 points and 7.6 assists while shooting 45 percent from 3 in a 12-game span, per the report. The Pistons went 9-3 during that stretch and clinched the franchise’s first No. 1 seed since 2007 with Jenkins running much of the offense. Jenkins told ESPN after an April 4 win that secured the conference’s best record, “The stuff I’ve been doing here, I’ve always been doing it. It wasn’t like waiting ’til I got here [and] ’till they let me shine.”
The report traces Jenkins’ unconventional path: a Dallas native who left the University of the Pacific when coach Damon Stoudamire moved to Ime Udoka’s Boston Celtics staff in 2021, led the Tigers in scoring as a sophomore, then went the junior-college route with Odessa College. His 15 points and 5.3 assists averages there caught Rick Pitino’s eye at Iona, where he repeated the production and earned All-MAAC second-team honors before following Pitino to St. John’s and making the Big East second team. Despite 2024 predraft workouts, he was not selected in the second round and landed with the G League’s Motor City Cruise, where he averaged 21 points and seven assists and saw some mop-up duty for the big club.
The Pistons brought Jenkins up when they began the 2025-26 season short on guard depth after Jaden Ivey’s leg injury, and teammates and coaches said he fit immediately. Ausar Thompson called him “super vocal, super competitive, and he was cold,” per the report, and coach J.B. Bickerstaff said using Jenkins to initiate the offense “is beneficial” because it prevents everyone from staring at Cade Cunningham. Per the report, Bickerstaff had Cunningham and Jenkins on the floor to help close Game 1 of the East semifinals against Cleveland.
