The Fort Wayne Pistons were a professional basketball team playing with the Basketball Association of America in their initial days and later in the National Basketball Association from 1947 to 1956.

The team was originally formulated in 1941 by a Piston Manufacturing Unit owner, Fred Zollner. Fred named the team the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and entered the team in the National Basketball League. In 1947 when talks about the merger of rival leagues NBL and Basketball Association of America were ongoing, the Zollner Pistons joined the BBA as a first step to the unification and dropped Zollner out of their name to become the Fort Wayne Pistons. Owner Fred Zollner continued to aid the team. The team colors were blue, white and red. The team logo continued to be the tin man who was made of pistons holding a basketball. The team arena was the North Side High School Gym and the Memorial Coliseum.

Country United States United States
City Fort Wayne, Indiana
Founded 1947

In 1948, the first year the team played with the Basketball Association of America as the Fort Wayne Pistons they recorded 22 wins and 38 losses, finishing fifth in the Western Division. After the merger in 1949, the Pistons were playing in the NBA. They graduated to the thirds position in the Central Division recording 40 wins and 28 losses and qualifying for the playoffs. The pistons were however defeated in the semi finals. In 1950 and 1951, the Pistons made it to the playoffs to play against the Rochester Royals and got defeated both the times. In 1955 and 1956, the Pistons showed improvement and were in the Finals of the NBA Championships. However, they were defeated by the Syracuse Nationals and the Philadelphia Warriors respectively. In 1956, after facing defeat in the playoffs the owner Fred Zollner decided to relocate the team to Detroit for better prospects of the team. Zollner was later named to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

In a total of 619 games the team played as the Fort Wayne Pistons in the NBA, they won 313 games and lost 306 games.