The Celtics were putting together a hell of a push for the top seed in the Eastern Conference a week or so ago, as the Pistons were sputtering while Boston surged. But Detroit righted the ship, and the Cs dropped consecutive games to the Spurs and Thunder. With the tiebreak belonging to the Pistons, the top spot appeared to be out of reach with a four-game cushion and under 20 games to play in the regular season.
But the situation has dramatically changed: MVP candidate Cade Cunningham left the Pistons’ game on Tuesday and did not return, with the team calling it back spasms. But on Thursday morning, Shams Charania reported that Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung.
Charania added that he would miss an extended period of time, and the Pistons released a statement confirming that Cade will be re-evaluated in two weeks. That would put us into the beginning of April, and just days away from the end of the season.
Detroit still has a four-game lead in the loss column, plus the tiebreaker over Boston, so with just 14 games left for them to play, they’d have to fall off a cliff without their superstar completely. It’s certainly possible, as Cade is the engine that makes that offense work, but with their next two games coming against the Wizards and Warriors, it’s a long shot, at best.
Cunningham’s status for playoffs a major storyline
Realistically, the Pistons will still probably back into the number one seed in the East, but now, one of the most valuable players in the conference’s status for the playoffs is in jeopardy. The Pistons have had a breakthrough season, but they still have to earn their scars in the playoffs.
Doing so with any version of Cade that is less than 100% is going to be extremely difficult. There were already some major doubts about their viability in the postseason, largely thanks to a lack of secondary scoring and creation outside of Cunningham. If he’s compromised, that concern will be magnified in a huge way, one that Detroit most likely won’t be able to overcome.
It throws a massive wrench into their plans and makes an already wide-open Eastern Conference even more so, with the top seed now in trouble.
Beyond that, this injury may make it difficult for Cunningham to reach 65 games played to be eligible for awards. He’s at 60, so he must come back to play in at least 5 of the team’s final 14 games, something that now seems pretty iffy.
He wasn’t going to win MVP, but he was going to finish in the top five, and he was going to land a spot on first-team All-NBA. Now, those spots may be vacated, thus improving Jaylen Brown’s chances of climbing up awards ballots.