Top pick Cade Cunningham made his belated NBA debut on Saturday against Orlando, then sat out Sunday’s loss to Brooklyn. The Pistons’ prized rookie won’t play in back-to-backs in the short term, coach Dwane Casey told The Detroit News’ Rod Beard and other media members (Twitter link). Cunningham missed the first four regular season games due to an ankle sprain. Cunningham is expected to suit up against Milwaukee on Tuesday.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- Another Pistons rookie, forward Isaiah Livers, has been assigned to the team’s G League team, the Motor City Cruise, the team’s PR department tweets. Livers has been rehabbing from foot surgery, so that’s an indication he’s been medically cleared to at least practice. He was one of three second-round picks made by Detroit. Fellow rookie, center Luka Garza, and second-year guard Saben Lee have also been assigned to the Cruise.
- Wizards big man Daniel Gafford returned to action on Monday, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. He suffered a right quad contusion against the Celtics on Wednesday. He underwent an MRI to ensure the injury was not more serious. He’s averaging 8.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG and 2.0 BPG.
- Heat wing Max Strus has been diagnosed with a sprained left knee, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald reports. An MRI on the knee returned negative results. Strus is expected to miss at least two weeks, but is relieved it wasn’t more serious after tearing his ACL in the same knee in December 2019. “There was a lot of anxiety. It was tough to sleep the night before,” he said. “But the training staff did a great job of getting me in as soon as they could to get the MRI. As soon as I heard those results, it was just a breath of fresh air.”
Thoughts and prayers.
Pretty sure 6’5 Max Strus isn’t a center
Let’s goooo! I thought for sure it was an ACL. Sprained knee is worse than strained knee though. A sprain can easily lead to a future tear if they arent careful, so I would be surprised if it’s only 2 weeks. I sprained my knee a while back, and it hurt more than a couple of my previous tears, and lasted more than a couple of months, but obviously a regular person is apples to oranges.
Still really good news, as long as they’re careful, and hopefully they can stay relatively healthy for once this season, b/c they’re riding a lot on certain guys being available
#1 pick Cade Cunningham starts his nba career with a triple double!
No, he actually had 2pts, 7rebs, and 2asts… That would’ve been awesome though!
He had 2 puntos, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers…
Triple Double!
He’ll get better…
Not sure about that, his second game was a lot worse than the first…
He’s not playing like a potential Rookie of the Year candidate so far.