Cade Cunningham's Collapsed Lung Clears a Playoff Path for the Sixers

Detroit Pistons star point guard Cade Cunningham left Tuesday's win over the Washington Wizards after only five minutes due to what the team called "back spasms" at the time.

On Thursday, the Pistons announced far worse news.

According to ESPN's Shams Charania, Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung "and is expected to miss an extended period of time." He added that the Pistons are "still gathering information on Cunningham's condition and are unsure how long he will be sidelined," although "there is some optimism that Cunningham will be back in time for the start of the playoffs."

If he isn't, the Sixers' potential playoff path might be far less daunting than it appeared a few days ago.

Is the No. 8 seed now desirable?

Thanks to their recent onslaught of injuries, the Sixers have tumbled from the No. 6 to the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. They're 1.5 games behind the sixth-seeded Orlando Magic and one game behind the seventh-seeded Miami Heat and eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks.

Star center Joel Embiid was upgraded to doubtful ahead of Thursday night's game against the Sacramento Kings, which suggests his return may not be far away. Paul George is also set to return from his 25-game suspension on March 25 against the Chicago Bulls, although Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. are still sidelined by fingers and elbow injuries, respectively.

Two of the Sixers' next three games are coming against teams that have zero interest in winning. They figure to get annihilated by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, but if both George and Embiid are back ahead of the Bulls game, the Sixers will have a chance to string together some wins late in the season.

Either way, the No. 8 seed may now be their desired outcome thanks to Cunningham's injury.

According to injury expert Jeff Stotts, the average time that NBA players miss due to a collapsed lung is around 26 days. If Cunningham falls in that range, he would be back by the start of the playoffs.

Cade Cunningham Injury Update: A pneumothorax (collapsed lung) is much more common in contact sports like the NFL but there have been several cases in the NBA including Gerald Wallace, CJ McCollum (2x), & Terrence Jones.

Average time lost? 26 days (~10.8 games)
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) March 19, 2026

There's no guarantee that he's back by then, though. And even if he is, he might have some rust to shake off after being inactive for the weeks leading up to the playoffs.

If the Sixers do finish as the No. 9 seed, they'd face the No. 10 seed at home in a win-or-go-home game. If they won that game, they'd go on the road to face whichever of the No. 7 or No. 8 seed lost their first play-in tournament game. If they win that game as well, they'll book a first-round matchup with the No. 1 seed.

The Pistons currently have a 3.5-game lead over the Boston Celtics for the No. 1 seed, although the Celtics have come on strong since Jayson Tatum's return. The Celtics' remaining schedule is more difficult than the Pistons', but the Pistons will be without Cunningham's team-leading 24.5 points and 9.9 assists per game for the foreseeable future.

The Sixers have lost all three of their games against Detroit to date this season, although the first two matchups were fairly close, and both came without George or Embiid. A full-strength Sixers squad might have a puncher's chance at upsetting the Pistons in the playoffs, particularly if Cunningham is still sidelined or rusty from his absence.

This might be the break that the Sixers needed to go on a miracle playoff run.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on X and Bluesky for the latest news.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

Follow Bryan on Bluesky.