JANUARY 9: The Pistons announced today in a press release that Cunningham has been diagnosed with a left knee strain and will be reevaluated in about seven-to-10 days.
JANUARY 8: The Pistons got some good news regarding Cade Cunningham
‘s latest ailment. He avoided a serious injury to his left knee, according to Shams Charania and James Edwards III of The Athletic (via Twitter
).
Cunningham didn’t play in the second half of the Pistons’ loss to Denver on Sunday due what the team described as a knee strain. There was no obvious play in which he was injured and there’s been speculation he might have tweaked the knee in the team’s previous game against Golden State.
“Our franchise player. A guy like that can’t play, it has a trickle-down effect across the board,” coach Monty Williams said during the postgame press conference. “We have different guys stepping up in the pecking order, having to handle the ball and make plays and that kind of thing. Pretty clear how important Cade is to our program.”
Cunningham could miss at least a few games, The Athletic duo adds. Detroit has a back-to-back against Sacramento on Tuesday and San Antonio on Wednesday. The Pistons will complete a three-game home stand against Houston on Friday.
Cunningham, the top pick of the 2021 draft, missed most of last season due to shin surgery. He’s averaging 22.8 points, 7.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds in his third season in the league.
Detroit is 3-33, having dropped four straight since snapping its record-breaking 28-game losing streak.