If Andre Drummond opts to remain with the Pistons for the 2020-21 season, he’ll be 27 as the contract he signed this summer expires – still in the thick of his career prime. He’ll also be the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder with enough of his career ahead to cement the record for eternity.
If Drummond maintains his rebounding average over his three seasons as a Pistons starter – that’s 1,124 boards a season – he’ll start the 2020-21 season with 8,326 boards to his credit. That would be good for second in franchise history, ahead of Hall of Famers Bob Lanier (second in franchise history) and Dennis Rodman (fourth) plus potential Hall of Famer Ben Wallace (third).
Keeping up that pace for the fifth and final year of the contract would give him 9,450 boards – 20 more than franchise leader Bill Laimbeer.
Maintaining his three-year starter’s averages would also vault him into the No. 5 position in career steals (837) behind four franchise icons: Isiah Thomas, Wallace, Joe Dumars and Lindsey Hunter.
Doing the same with blocked shots would leap frog Drummond to second – behind only Wallace –with 1,151. He’d go ahead of Terry Tyler, Lanier, Laimbeer, John Salley and Rasheed Wallace. Drummond currently ranks No. 7 in career blocks with 491 – even though Stan Van Gundy believes Drummond has the potential to become a much more prolific shot-blocker than he’s been, averaging 132 over his three starting seasons.
It’s the offensive rebounding department where Drummond blows everyone out of the water. Already fourth in franchise history behind Laimbeer, Rodman and Ben Wallace with 1,441, Drummond would have 3,561 after the 2020-21 season if he maintains his three-year average of 424 offensive rebounds per season. That would put Laimbeer, the current career leader at 2,429, more than 1,000 offensive rebounds behind Drummond – and, remember, Drummond is going to be just 27 if he opts in to his final season when that contract is up.
Drummond already owns the second-, third- and fourth-best offensive rebounding seasons in Pistons franchise history behind Rodman’s otherworldly 523 collected in the 1991-92 season. Drummond would need to average 6.4 offensive rebounds a game – his 5.4 per game in 2013-14 is his career best – to eclipse Rodman’s 523 total rebounds.
Drummond’s 1,198 total rebounds last season ranks third in Pistons single-season history, trailing Rodman’s 1,530 from 1991-92 and Lanier’s 1,205 from 1972-73. If Drummond had played in last season’s finale at Cleveland when Van Gundy rested his starters, he almost surely would have grabbed eight boards to bypass Lanier for No. 2 on this list.
Drummond is the longest-tenured Pistons player with four seasons wearing their uniform. Only Kentavious Caldwell-Pope besides Drummond was with the Pistons when Van Gundy was hired by owner Tom Gores in May 2014. So Drummond’s teammates aren’t yet in position to crack franchise career leaders lists yet. That could change as Van Gundy looks to maintain some roster stability now with a young core in place. But at least one among them – Andre Drummond – is on the verge of having his name splattered all over those lists.