The Motor City Cruise's 5-year story travels beyond a basketball court

The Detroit Pistons have been making moves in the NBA all season. They have used a combination of offensive hustle and defensive grit to become one of the most talked about young teams in the league, leading the Eastern Conference and exciting fans as they prepare for another playoff run, hoping to bring a championship to Motown. But the men in red, white and blue raising the roof and expectations inside Little Caesars Arena aren't the only ones making noise — or a playoff run — in Detroit this season.

Inside the cozy confines of the Wayne State Fieldhouse, on the campus of Wayne State University, about a mile up the road from LCA, the Detroit Pistons’ NBA G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, also is headed to the playoffs. But it's the hustle and grit that this team brings to the community, as well as the basketball court, that already is making this scrappy squad hometown champs. “I barely have a chance to sit down during home games because I’m doing laps around the (U-shaped) Fieldhouse,” said China Jude, president of business operations for the Motor City Cruise, which has celebrated its fifth anniversary throughout the season.

Like the players on the Cruise roster, whose precision moves on the court helped the team qualify for the NBA G League playoffs, Jude’s movements — all performed with a “Motor City Mentality” — had an important purpose during each of the Cruise’s 24 home games throughout the 2025-26 regular season. “It’s all part of being a community asset, which was (Pistons owner) Tom Gores’ vision for the Cruise,” said Jude, whose flurry of hands-on activities and engagement during home games included helping with the setup of the atrium and concourse areas of the fieldhouse, which comfortably seats up to 3,000 fans on game days. And those game days often were connected to special themes that celebrated Detroit culture and Detroiters that make a difference in the community, including leaders that the Cruise honored as "Community Playmakers.

" During the Cruise's regular season, which concluded March 28, Jude also was more than happy to provide assistance at ticket areas, welcome community groups, greet fans representing all segments of Detroit’s communities, and much more. Jude added: “I’m naturally a worker bee, so I enjoy being busy on game day at the Fieldhouse. When I’m setting up mini basketball hoops for the kids or saying ‘hi’ to people at our concession stands, it’s about making sure our fans have a great experience.