The Detroit Pistons received a concerning update on Cade Cunningham's health earlier today
The Pistons have been put into a bind for their final month of regular season basketball with the news that Cade Cunningham has a collapsed lung and will be forced to miss multiple weeks as he recovers. Of course, Cunningham's health should be the top priority in this and in all cases, so the Pistons will have to get a little creative over the next couple weeks from a lineup standpoint. Here's a few quick takeaways from today's medical update:
- Marcus Sasser and Daniss Jenkins will be thrust into roles with more responsibility right away. Until further information on Cunningham's timeline is available, expect both Sasser and Jenkins to split point guard duty for the Pistons in the meantime. Sasser has served as a strong outside shooter this season, and Jenkins has positive defensive metrics attached to his playing time, so both players offer multiple dimensions that Detroit will utilize while Cade is out.
- Right now, Cunningham has 60 qualified games, which is below the 65-game requirement to be eligible for the All-NBA teams. Now, the extent of Cunningham's absence is not yet known, so it is possible that Cade could return to play several games during the regular season. But assuming that the Pistons take a cautious road and shut down Cunningham until the postseason, then the two-time All-Star would be ineligible for those end-of-season honors.
- Now would be an ideal time to work Ausar Thompson back into the role of a secondary playmaker who has the ball in his hands more often during the half-court. Since Sasser and Jenkins are both bumped one place up the depth chart right now, Thompson could chip in as a ball handler to take some pressure off that backcourt tandem and to allow Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff with extra lineup options to roll with.
- Right now, the Pistons have a 3.5-game lead over the Boston Celtics with 14 games left in the regular season, which means Detroit would have to enter a significant tailspin in order to lose position of the top seed in the East. However, the Celtics did recently add Jayson Tatum back to the lineup, so Boston is benefiting from a little luck of the Irish just after St. Patrick's Day.
Later tonight, the Pistons have an Eastern Conference battle with the Washington Wizards that is set for a 7 pm tip-off, so we will see how Detroit looks without their floor general against a very beatable opponent.
What was your reaction to hearing the news that Cunningham will be sidelined for at least two weeks?
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