All-Star guard Cade Cunningham of the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons has a collapsed left lung and will miss at least two weeks and possibly more, the team announced Thursday.
The exact timeline for a return to play is still unknown. The Pistons said Cunningham would be re-evaluated at the two-week mark.
“Obviously, it’s tough,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in Washington on Thursday before Detroit played the Wizards. “Tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now. How important he is to the team, how important being with his team is to him doesn’t make it easy. He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint.
“Obviously, the talent’s there, but just being around him every single day makes people’s days better.”
Cunningham is averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists for the Pistons, stellar numbers for a club on pace for its best season in nearly two decades. Only eight players in NBA history have finished a season averaging that many points and assists, and Cunningham would be the first to do so in a Detroit uniform.
The regular season ends in less than four weeks. The Pistons — who had listed Cunningham as out for Thursday’s game in Washington with a left back contusion and said Thursday that further testing revealed the lung issue — won’t start their playoff run until April 18 or 19, when the East quarterfinals begin.
Detroit beat the Wizards on Thursday, improving to 6-2 in games without Cunningham this season.
“It’s everybody’s responsibility to keep moving forward,” Bickerstaff said. “Head down, 10 toes forward and go to work. And that’s what this team has done all year.”
Cunningham got hurt in Tuesday’s win over Washington, leaving midway through the opening quarter with what the team called back spasms. He dived for a loose ball and collided into Wizards guard Tre Johnson with 7:44 left in the first, then seemed to be laboring until he checked out 1:04 later.
Detroit is 50-19 after Thursday’s win, now four games ahead of Boston for the top spot in the East with 13 games remaining. Cunningham has appeared in 61 games this season, so an extended absence could also mean he doesn’t reach the 65-game threshold for eligibility for awards such as the All-NBA team.
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