Editor’s note: players only qualify if they logged at least one playoff appearance in their respective championship years. Also, the list is based on their entire career, not just their span of time with the Pistons. 

15) Fennis Dembo (1989)

It was quite a transition for Dembo from All-American averaging 20+ points per game at Wyoming to bench warmer after the Pistons drafted him in the second round in 1988. He averaged just 1.2 points per game in 32 rookie regular season appearances, while serving as cannon fodder for Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Vinnie Johnson in practices. It was essentially a one-year tryout for Dembo as a potential long-term replacement for Johnson as a bench scoring specialist but for whatever reason Chuck Daly didn’t see enough and cut him after the season, leading to stints in France and the CBA. His final NBA game turned out to be two scoreless minutes late in game one of an NBA Finals victory over the Lakers, one of just two postseason appearances he made.

14) William Bedford (1990)

As opposed to most of his “Bad Boys” teammates who kept it on the court, Bedford’s delinquent behavior extended out of the arena, both during and after his career. He was the sixth overall pick of the Suns in 1986 but struggled almost immediately with substance abuse (and knee surgery before his rookie season began). The Suns shipped him off to Detroit after just one season but despite the veteran presence on the Pistons his behavior did not improve and he spent the entire ’88-’89 championship season in rehab instead of on the court. Bedford did eventually play four seasons with the Pistons, including sparingly on the ’89-’90 title team, before retiring in 1993 with career averages of just 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. His drug problems didn’t stop there though, as he eventually spent 10 years in jail for marijuana possession charges filed in 2001.

13) Scott Hastings (1990)

A longtime bench warmer for the Hawks, buried well below Tree Rollins and Kevin Willis on the front court depth chart, Hastings at least got a new view from his bench seat when he signed with the Pistons in 1989. He got a championship ring out of the deal too, as the Pistons defeated the Blazers in the 1990 NBA Finals to clinch back-to-back titles. In between, he was selected by the Heat in their expansion draft and averaged a career high 5.1 points per game in ’88-’89, even starting some games at center. Hastings was technically the 12th man in the 1990 playoffs, scoring just two points in 16 total minutes over five games, two of which were in the Finals. He was still on the team in ’90-’91 and was notably one of the few players who stayed on the court and shook hands with the Bulls after the Conference Finals ended, thanks in large part to his longtime friendship with Scottie Pippen.

12) Micheal Williams (1989)

Selected by the Pistons in the 1988 NBA Draft, 18 spots after Fennis Dembo, Williams had the far superior career, though most of it came outside Detroit. In fact, only his rookie season was spent with the Pistons, as they traded him to the Suns on draft day in 1989. Williams was essentially the third string point guard on the ’88-’89 title team, behind Isiah Thomas and Vinnie Johnson, and played just six total minutes in the postseason, spread out over four games (only Dembo played less). He thrived in later stops with the Pacers and Timberwolves, averaging 13.8 points and 7.3 assists per game over a four year prime, getting named 2nd-Team All-Defensive in ’92-’93, and setting the still-standing NBA record for consecutive free throw made, with 97.

11) Rick Mahorn (1989)

Pistons play-by-play announcer George Blaha labelled Mahorn as the “baddest boy of all” and for good reason. Even on a team full of agitators and brawlers, Mahorn stood out for his toughness. He’s likely the only player in NBA history who had the guts to pick fights with Charles Oakley, Charles Barkley, and Moses Malone, and his rebounding and defense were major assets on the first Pistons title team. Mahorn was the starting power forward on the ’87-’88 team that reached the Finals and the ’88-’89 team that won the championship, averaging 8.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game during that stretch while also compiling over $11,000 worth of fines from the NBA for fighting. But he was arguably expendable by the 1989 Finals, with Dennis Rodman emerging as the long-term option at power forward, so the Pistons left Mahorn exposed in the expansion draft and he was selected by the Timberwolves, literally during the Pistons’ championship parade. Already 30 years old by that point, Mahorn then spent another decade in the NBA, finally retiring in 1999 after a two-year reunion with Detroit. 

10) John Long (1989)

Only one member of the ’88-’89 Pistons championship team had been on the roster before Isiah Thomas was drafted in 1981, and that was Long. A star at Detroit Mercy under Dick Vitale, Long was drafted by his hometown Pistons in 1978 just as the franchise was reaching its nadir. He started in the back court with Thomas for several seasons before the 1985 drafting of Joe Dumars left him expendable. The Pistons traded Long to the Sonics in 1986 but he eventually made his way back, signing as a free agent late in the ’88-’89 season. The team needed depth at guard as rookie Micheal Williams was proving  inconsistent, so Long replaced waived center Darryl Dawkins on the roster. He barely made it off the bench during the postseason but did earn a championship ring for his efforts before signing with the Mavericks for the ’89-’90 season and eventually retiring in 1991. Five years later, Thomas was coaching the Raptors and coaxed his former back court mate out of retirement at age 40, asking Long to act as a mentor to rookie Tracy McGrady.

9) John Salley (1989, 1990)

Thus we complete the trilogy of Salley being on a list of championship teammates of legendary players, which started with Michael Jordan, then Kobe Bryant, and now Isiah Thomas. “The Spider” therefore holds the unique distinctions of being the first player to win titles with three different teams  (Robert Horry, LeBron James, and Danny Green have since joined him) and one of two players to win titles in three different decades (along with Tim Duncan). Despite being a lottery pick for the Pistons in 1986, Salley was never a star player or much of a stats compiler (his career high was 9.5 points per game in ’91-’92 and 6.1 rebounds per game in ’92-’93) but he was always a steady contributor for the Pistons, especially defensively, mostly off the bench at power forward and center. He stuck with the Pistons through the ’91-’92 season before getting traded to Miami. After retiring with the Lakers in 2000 he concentrated full time on his acting career, which appropriately enough featured appearances as a computer hacker in the films “Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II.”

One of four players on this list who was also at one point a teammate of Michael Jordan, Greenwood’s time on the Bulls actually came before he was on the Pistons (as opposed to John Salley, Dennis Rodman, and James Edwards, who played in Chicago later in their career). He is also inexorably linked with “Bad Boys” rival Magic Johnson, as Greenwood was the #2 pick of Chicago in the 1979 NBA Draft after the Lakers won a coin toss to take Johnson #1. He averaged a career high 16.3 points per game while earning 1st-Team All-Rookie honors for the Bulls in ’79-’80 and remained a steady presence for them until Jordan’s rookie season when he started to struggle with injuries. Greenwood was traded to the Spurs for George Gervin in 1985 and spent several seasons in San Antonio and Denver before signing with the Pistons in 1989. He was basically an insurance policy for the ’89-’90 title season, as Detroit was already stacked at power forward and playing time was limited.

7) Gerald Henderson (1990)

We’ve already mentioned Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant on this list, but Henderson lays claim as the only Pistons “Bad Boy” to also team up with Larry Bird. He was a fellow rookie with “Larry Legend” on the ’79-’80 Celtics and a key part of the 1981 and 1984 championship teams (most notably his famous steal from James Worthy that swung the 1984 NBA Finals) before getting traded to Seattle for the draft pick that would eventually get used on Len Bias. Henderson was essentially a journeyman from there, playing with six franchises over his final eight seasons, including Detroit. The Pistons signed him for the ’89-’90 season to back up Isiah Thomas after rookie point guard Micheal Williams disappointed in ’88-’89. That didn’t translate to many minutes for Henderson, as Vinnie Johnson was the de facto bench guy at that point, but he earned a third championship nonetheless.

6) James Edwards (1989, 1990)

Unassuming and serene, to the point that he was nicknamed “Buddha,” Edwards stood in stark contrast of many of his “Bad Boys” teammates. But he was a bruiser on the court, compiling 4,042 personal fouls in his career, good for 12th all-time. His best statistical seasons came early in his career with mostly terrible Pacers, Cavaliers, and Suns teams, averaging 15.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game over his first nine seasons before tendinitis started to slow him. After getting traded from the Suns to the Pistons during the ’87-’88 season, Edwards revived his career, especially in the 1990 postseason, when he started all 20 games at power forward and was third on the team in playoff scoring with 14.3 points per game. He was traded to the Clippers in 1991 but eventually wound up reuniting with John Salley and Dennis Rodman on the ’95-’96 Bulls title team.

5) Vinnie Johnson (1989, 1990)

Like so many of his “Bad Boys” teammates, Johnson embodied the spirit of setting aside potential personal gain to help the team win championships. A lightning quick combo guard with a killer jump shot, he likely could have started for most NBA teams in his prime but instead embraced a sixth man role in Detroit, earning the nickname “Microwave” for his uncanny ability to heat up quickly off the bench. Though he rarely started games, Johnson often finished them, most notably in the 1990 NBA Finals, when his last second jumper capped off a furious Pistons comeback to win game five and clinch the series. He was third in playoff scoring with 14.1 points per game on the ’88-’89 title team and finished his career fifth in Pistons history in total points (he’s since been bumped to seventh). Though Johnson is synonymous with Pistons basketball, he actually started his career drafted by the Sonics, who traded him to Detroit in 1981, then finished it with a season in San Antonio. The Pistons retired his #14 jersey in 1994 in a ceremony that included him being presented with an engraved microwave.

4) Mark Aguirre (1989, 1990)

In one of the most surprising and retrospectively successful trades in NBA history, the Pistons sent their top scorer, Adrian Dantley, to the Mavericks at the 1989 trade deadline in exchange for Aguirre. Though Aguirre was one of the top scorers in the NBA through most of the ’80s, he also gained a reputation as selfish and difficult to coach. One person who still believed in him was his good friend and fellow top two pick in the 1981 draft, Isiah Thomas, who reportedly pushed Pistons management to cut the deal. It certainly paid off for everyone involved. Aguirre completely remade his image as a selfless complementary scorer and lockdown defender and capped his career with two championship rings. The Pistons found their missing piece that put them over the hump for those two titles, while Thomas proved his worth as a leader and personnel decider, though that notoriety would belie him later on in failed attempts at coaching and front office work.

3) Bill Laimbeer (1989, 1990)

It’s a worthy argument and a whole other list to determine who was the most intense of the “Bad Boys” Pistons, but Laimbeer is notable as the only one with a fighting-themed basketball video game bearing his likeness. His career was going nowhere fast when the Pistons traded for him in 1982 but he soon after developed into one of the premier centers of the ’80s, making four All-Star appearances while averaging 13+ points and 10+ rebounds per for six straight seasons. His offensive role had reduced by the time the Pistons had rounded into title contenders in ’87-’88 but Laimbeer was still the starting center on the back-to-back title teams and a defensive anchor. He eventually played 12 1/2 seasons with the Pistons before retiring in 1994 as the franchise’s all-time leader in rebounds, win shares, and, perhaps most appropriately, personal fouls.

2) Joe Dumars (1989, 1990)

Though Isiah Thomas was the biggest star, Bill Laimbeer the most menacing presence, and Mark Aguirre and Vinnie Johnson the most notorious scorers, it was Dumars was came away from the 1989 NBA Finals with MVP honors. That series was a real breakout moment for the young shooting guard, averaging 27.3 points and 6.0 assists per game while applying shutdown defense on Magic Johnson in a Pistons sweep. He was also second in playoff scoring and assists behind Thomas for the ’89-’90 champions and named to his first of six All-Star Games that season. Dumars’ best statistical seasons would come soon after as the “Bad Boys” were deteriorating and he shifted back into secondary mode late in his career, mentoring a young Grant Hill. In addition to his scoring and play making, Dumars was also one of the best perimeter defenders of his era and was the basis of the so-called “Jordan Rules” that tormented the Bulls star in Pistons Conference Finals victories in 1989 and 1990.

1) Dennis Rodman (1989, 1990)

One of the greatest underdog stories in league history, Rodman went from working as a janitor after getting cut from his high school basketball team to a key element of five NBA championship runs, the first two of which were with the Pistons. A mysterious quantity when the Pistons drafted him in the second round in 1986, he slowly developed into a sixth man on the ’88-’89 title team, backing up Adrian Dantley and Rick Mahorn at both forward positions, and then the starting small forward by the time of the 1990 postseason. Rodman was named Defensive Player of the Year in that second title season but his reputation as an unparalleled rebounder would come later, starting in ’91-’92, when he led the league with 18.7 per game for the first of seven consecutive seasons. Only two of those would come with the Pistons, as the team grew tired of his off-court antics and traded him to the Spurs in 1993.