Cade Cunningham missed Saturday’s loss to Orlando and his Pistons teammates struggled to fill the huge void. Detroit had more turnovers than assists in the 11-point loss while Cunningham sat out with a hip injury.
“Obviously those injuries are tough when you take a blow to the tailbone-ish area. That’s the core of where your movement starts. He’s obviously pretty sore, but feels like he’s improving. We’ll just take it day by day and see how he gets better,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, per Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press.
Cunningham was injured during the late going of Detroit’s game against Charlotte on Thursday. He’s listed as doubtful to play on Monday against Toronto, Sankofa tweets.
We have more on the Pistons:
- Ausar Thompson is no longer on the injury report and he could make his season debut as soon as Monday. Thompson’s rookie season was short-circuited by blood clotting issues. The second-year forward could impact the team defensively, as Hunter Patterson of The Athletic describes in detail. When Thompson’s return will likely mean reduced minutes for Wendell Moore Jr., rookie Ron Holland and Simone Fontecchio, Patterson notes.
- Isaiah Stewart is receiving more minutes at center this season and prefers that role, compared to being a stretch four, he told Forbes contributor Mat Issa. “I love being back at center on offense,” Stewart said. “Playing at the power forward spot, I wasn’t really involved in too many actions. At the center spot, I’m constantly setting screens and using my body.”
- In Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois’ latest mailbag post, he predicts the odds of a significant in-season move being pretty low, less than 20 percent. While there might be a minor move near the trade deadline that could net a second-round pick or two, he doubts the front office will be particularly active this season.