Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung and will be sidelined indefinitely the team announced Thursday.
According to reports out of Detroit, the team believes that the severity of the injury is “mild” but the medical team is unable to put a definitive timeline on when he could return to action. Cunningham initially left Tuesday’s contest against the Wizards with what the team labelled “back spasms” after diving for a loose ball early in the first quarter.
The 24 year old is currently amongst the MVP frontrunners after helping to guide Detroit to an Eastern Conference best 49-19 record. The Pistons currently hold a 3.5 game lead over the Boston Celtics for the 1 seed, but have posted a 5-5 record over their last 10 contests.
Currently averaging 24.5pts and 9.9 assists per contest, should Cunningham fail to suit up for at least 4 more games this season, he would fall just short of the NBA’s 65 game minimum to be eligible for any individual awards.
While his return to play timeline remains very much in flux, if recent history is taken into account, it’s likely that Cunningham is out for most of the remaining regular season games. In 2023 CJ McCollum missed 12 games with a similar injury, while Gerald Wallace missed roughly 3 weeks worth of action back in 2009 as well.
In a best case scenario, Cunningham is able to return for 4 games prior to the postseason kicking off, making him eligible for MVP, All-NBA and All-Defensive teams, while shaking off some rust before the playoffs begin.
In his absence, Detroit is expected to rely on a committee of players to make up for Cade’s offence. Daniss Jenkins, Marcus Sasser, Caris LeVert, and Duncan Robinson are likely to see an uptick in usage. While Ausar Thompson could see the ball flowing through his hands a bit more as well.
Up next for Detroit is a 7pm ET showdown with the lowly Washington Wizards on Thursday night.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.