Right now, the Pistons have a few days off to rest up before facing the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, Nov. 22, and this break could not have come at a better time. In recent games, Detroit has cobbled together its starting lineup with a handful of players decorating the injury report, and the team’s depth has been significantly challenged along the Pistons’ 11-game winning streak.

So far, Detroit has passed each test with flying colors, but the squad could use a chance to get healthy. The Pistons have included at least three players on the injury report for each game this season, and fourth-year guard Jaden Ivey has been a mainstay in the unavailable section.

Currently recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Thursday, Oct. 16, Ivey was recently assigned to the Pistons’ G-League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, within the last week. So, the explosive guard is inching closer towards making his regular season debut. 

“Obviously, he’s making progress, but assigning him there allows him to get some live court work, so obviously that’s the next step in the progression before we get him back on the floor,” Bickerstaff said recently. “So, hopefully everything goes positively there, and we’ll be able to take the next step.”

Earlier this week, Ivey participated in a few on-court drills before the rest of his Pistons teammates played in a game later on, and he’s been a participant during recent practices as well. The next stage for Ivey is to get a bit of run in the G-League and reacclimate to the speed of playing live basketball, and that should allow the dangerous scoring threat to build some trust in the strength of his knee as well. The next game for the Cruise is scheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 22, a road contest against the Noblesville Bloom. 

Once Ivey returns to the Pistons, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff will have the favorable problem of figuring out where and when to put Ivey in the lineup. In his absence, the Pistons have benefited from an emergent performance from guard Daniss Jenkins, a second-year player who is on a two-way deal with the Cruise. Jenkins has acquitted himself as a talented floor general when filling in for Cade Cunningham, then he slid over to a primarily off-ball role in the Pistons’ most recent victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. 

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And while Jenkins has exceeded expectations with his performances in a stretch that’s earned him an Eastern Conference Player of the Week nomination, Ivey remains in the long-term plans for the Pistons. So, the Purdue product is expected to eventually reclaim his spot in the Detroit lineup in due time, though Bickerstaff is likely to ease him back into the lineup. Ivey still has not played a regular season NBA game since breaking his leg last season, so his reintroduction to the Pistons’ squad should be conducted carefully.

"Me and Ivey, bro, we haven’t got a lot of time together,” Cunningham told Kevin Durant in a recent interview. “I think our approaches are, I don’t know, it’s like opposites attract. We have two different ways of going about it. But I’ve always felt like we could figure it out and be special. We’ve just always been on and off the court. We haven’t really been able to meet each other on the court for long enough to really get that going, but I think he’s somebody that can pick up full, turn you, he can be on the ball when I’m coming off the screens.”

As Cunningham alluded to, Ivey is a special player who can offer a versatile profile with or without the ball. Last season, Ivey was averaging over 17 points per game in a swingman role next to Cunningham before his season-ending injury, so the backcourt combination was on the cusp of breaking through as one of the NBA’s most dangerous until Ivey broke his leg. 

“He started shooting it better last year too before he got hurt,” Durant added.

That he did. Ivey improved his field goal rate by over three-percent last season, and he was connecting on shots from behind the arc at over 40%. Ivey was growing into his role as a speedster on the break who can also pull up from anywhere on the court. 

“He started shooting the skin out of the ball, so now I’m coming off, he’s a knock down shooter for me,” Cunningham said. “We know he can get in the paint at will. I think he’s a great example of that, we just haven’t been able to get it going.”

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So far, the Pistons have been in a tremendous rhythm lately to the tune of 11 straight victories, but Ivey has earned his spot in the Detroit lineup. It’s a given that he’ll work his way back onto the floor, it’s just a matter of when that’ll happen. And based on current reports, Ivey is making his charge back to the court to rejoin the first place Detroit Pistons as soon as he can. 

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