The Palace of Auburn Hills
Our Take
When it opened in 1988, the Palace of Auburn Hills was a revelation — a privately built, luxury-suite-stacked arena so far ahead of its time that other franchises copied its blueprint. It was the house the Bad Boys built: the Pistons won back-to-back NBA titles here in 1989 and 1990 with Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, and Dennis Rodman, then did it again in 2004 with a defense-first team that stunned the star-studded Lakers. (It also hosted the infamous “Malice at the Palace” brawl that same year.)
The Pistons moved downtown to Little Caesars Arena in 2017, and the Palace was demolished in 2020. Now a General Motors auto-parts supplier campus is rising on the footprint at 6 Championship Drive — and in the most Detroit twist imaginable, the plant is operated by Piston Automotive, founded by Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, the Bad Boys’ own sixth man. A champion still owns the corner where he won.