Cade Cunningham, the primary offensive engine for a Detroit Pistons team struggling for anything that works on that end, will be out for at least a week with a strained knee.
The Pistons announced Cunningham will be re-evaluated in 7-10 days, which means this could be longer but he apparently has avoided a serious injury that could have kept him out a month or more.
There did not appear to be a specific play or moment where Cunningham seemed to injure himself, rather, he felt pain in his knee and didn’t play the second half of the Pistons’ loss to the Nuggets on Sunday. It is possible he tweaked his knee in the previous game against the Warriors, but he played that full contest and didn’t say or show anything out of the ordinary. After the Nuggets game, Cunningham underwent an MRI to determine the issue, leading to the strain diagnosis.
Cunningham is clear and away the Pistons’ best player averaging 22.8 points, 7.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds a game in this, his third NBA season (he missed most of his second one following shin surgery). It’s been tough to judge just how much of a franchise cornerstone he can be because of the talent around him this season.
Look for Killian Hayes and Marcus Sasser to get more run with Cunningham out.
The Pistons are on their way to the worst record in the league, and maybe one of the worst in NBA history. Detroit, 3-33, has dropped four straight after a win over Toronto that snapped a record 28-game losing streak. It’s going to be difficult for the Pistons to pick up any wins over the next couple of weeks without Cunningham.
