Mike Abdenour played an integral part of the Pistons’ 2004 championship season, just as he’s been a steady force on the NBA healthcare beat.

The Detroit native joined the Pistons’ franchise in 1975 directly out of college and served the team’s head athletic trainer for 17 years. He took the Philadelphia 76ers head athletic trainer post from 1992-94, before returning to the Pistons in 1995, where he has remained ever since.

Abdenour was selected to represent the Eastern Conference at the 1979 and ‘94 NBA All-Star Games and was an integral part of the Pistons’ back-to-back world championship seasons in 1988–89 and 1989–90. He was honored to serve as athletic trainer for the 1981 NBA All-Star Tour of Mainland China.

The former secretary of the NBATA Executive Committee is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the Michigan Athletic Trainers’ Association.

His brother Tom has been the Golden State Warriors head athletic trainer since 1987. Mike received an undergraduate degree in health and physical education from Detroit’s Wayne State University in 1974.

Mike and his wife Janice reside in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., and have two sons, Michael and Keith. During the off-season, he enjoys working with his sons on the little league diamond.