The Detroit Pistons will be without their best player for the foreseeable future.
All-NBA guard Cade Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung and is expected to miss an extended period of time, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Thursday.
The 24-year-old is in the midst of a second consecutive all-star campaign, averaging 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 9.9 assists and 1.5 steals through 61 games for the No. 1-seeded Pistons.
Cunningham leads the NBA in assists per game this season while ranking 12th in scoring and 16th in steals.
The Pistons are not sure exactly how long the former No. 1 overall pick will be sidelined, per Charania on ESPN’s Get Up. They anticipate it to be “at least a period of weeks,” but there is “some optimism” he’ll be back for the playoffs, he said.
Cunningham last played on Tuesday in a win against the Washington Wizards, but left after just five minutes of action following an awkward collision with Tre Johnson III. He lunged for a loose ball, was hit by the Wizards guard in the back, and was later ruled out by Detroit for the rest of the game due to back spasms.
The Oklahoma State product has spearheaded a resurgent Pistons team to a 49-19 record entering Thursday. Detroit ranks second on defence and eighth on offence across the NBA. The Motor City squad already has their most regular-season wins since 2007-08 (59) with 14 games to go.
Detroit is projected to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season after last year’s breakout campaign — a 30-win increase in 2024-25 from 2023-24 — ended a five-year post-season drought.
Those efforts have Cunningham squarely in the MVP race, but with less than a month left in the regular season, it is now unclear if he will meet the 65-game threshold to be eligible for end-of-season awards.
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