Detroit Pistons is an American basketball team based in Michigan. They are one of the few surviving pre-NBA professional teams, meaning they were around before 1946. Despite this long history, they are currently regarded as one of the weaker teams inside the League.

Who owns Detroit Pistons? The club is owned by Tom Gores. He’s an entrepreneur whose net worth is estimated at $5 billion.

History Logo

The club was formed in 1937 in Fort Wayne, a city in Indiana. It was first from the workers of the Zollner Pistons Company, which also sponsored the club. That’s why they were originally known as ‘Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons’. Later, the ‘Zollner’ part was removed, and the team eventually moved to Detroit in 1957.

1941 – 1948

The initial logo was an illustration of a Tin Woodman sort of mascot made from car pistons. The figure was also wearing runners and clutching a brown basketball in one hand. A red ‘Z’ for ‘Zollner’ was emblazoned on his chest.

1948 – 1957

The next logo pictured the same mascot, except positioned mid-jump, with the ball leaving the man’s hands into the air. This time, they removed all the colors except white and red for outlining.

1957 – 1971

In 1957, they ditched the mascot and instead opted for the team name, as well as several other things.
The name itself – ‘Detroit Pistons’ at this point – was written in white capital letters and outlined in red. Below, in a similar style, but smaller and completely red, were the words ‘basketball team’, then a ‘National Baseball Assn (Association)’ in black. All of it was then placed inside a blue-framed circle stylized as a basketball.

1971 – 1975

By 1971, they decided to remove that last part about the NBA.

1975 – 1979

This time, they rearranged the letters into smaller, completely orange characters. The ‘basketball team’ part was removed, but they did add a small ‘NBA’ acronym in its place. The blue lines that were on the ball before now also turned orange.

1979 – 1996

In 1979, they redesigned the circle into a blue figure with another red circle inside. This one was outlined in white and full of white lines, in addition to the ‘Detroit Pistons’ inscription in the very middle. Stylistically, the letters were the same as before, but smaller and closer clustered.

1996 – 2001

The 1996 logo was the first 3D emblem: a black horse covered in orange flame put behind a massive word ‘Pistons’. This one was styled as car parts, with several burning exhaust tubes coming out of it. Behind all of this mess, they also put a turquoise ring with the word ‘Detroit’ in white at the very bottom.
Curious-ish detail: the bottom of the flame (the part sticking out from underneath the name part) is actually a basketball.

2001 – 2005

The design stayed largely the same, except most details became bright blue, apart from the flame (now red) and some white lines.

2005 – 2017

The 2005 was a simple red basketball outlined in white and then, thicker, in blue. In front of it, there was the club name. It actually resembles the post-1996 style, but without as much perspective, smaller and less wild.

2017 – today

The 2017 logotype is a reused 1979 design, except brighter and with a new font for the letters – the one they used in the 2005 attempt.

Uniform History

Pistons didn’t change their uniforms all that much or all that often: the home colors were always primarily white with a touch of red or blue. The away designs were reversed: mostly blue jerseys with red letters & numbers. There were also several red variations a while back, especially for the alternatives.

Detroit Pistons Colors

RED
PANTONE: 186
HEX COLOR: #C8102E;
RGB: (200,16,46)
CMYK: (2,100,85,6)

ROYAL
PANTONE: 7687
HEX COLOR: #1D42BA;
RGB: (29,66,138)
CMYK: (100,78,0,18)

GRAY
PANTONE: PMS COOL GRAY 5
HEX COLOR: #BEC0C2;
RGB: (181,179,179)
CMYK: (30,25,25,0)

NAVY
PANTONE: PMS 282
HEX COLOR: #002D62;
RGB: (0,45,98)
CMYK: (100,68,0,54)