Cade Cunningham Gets Devastating Injury News Before Detroit Pistons Playoff Push

The Detroit Pistons just got a dose of awful news with less than 15 games remaining on their regular season schedule.

During Detroit’s 130-117 victory against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, Cunningham left the game in the very early minutes of the matchup. He was originally diagnosed with back spasms that were not expected to be serious. Immediately following that game, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff did not have an update on Cunningham's status.

But on Thursday morning, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the news that Pistons fans didn’t want to hear.

All-Star guard Cade Cunningham will be sidelined for an extended period of time due to a collapsed lung.

The Pistons have 14 games remaining on their regular season schedule. It’s likely that the Pistons will be without Cunningham for a large portion of these games due to this scary injury.

What's this injury mean for the Pistons?

Pistons fans will be thanking their lucky stars that they started the 2025-26 season on fire.

The Pistons are the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with 14 games remaining. Behind them are the Boston Celtics, who recently brought back superstar Jayson Tatum from a torn Achilles tendon. Tatum has been finding his groove and the Celtics are surging and playing good basketball.

Even with Boston in the rearview mirror, the Pistons have a 3.5 game lead for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Pistons have plenty of winnable games still remaining on their schedule, including Thursday night against the Wizards again. Washington is one of the worst teams in the league, already having lost more than 50 games.

The Pistons also have easier games on their schedule including hosting the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers. Detroit will be tested on the road in matchups against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, but they won't worry about those games until the end of March.

Cunningham has been the engine behind Detroit's success this season. He's played at an All-Star level, and has spent the last few weeks as an NBA MVP dark horse candidate.

Without Cunningham on the floor, the Pistons are going to need to lean on their depth. Jalen Duren is a fellow All-Star talent that will have an opportunity to shine without his fellow star guard available.

There isn't an immediate timetable for Cunningham's return to action, but the Pistons will undoubtedly hope that he's able to come back before the NBA Playoffs begin in the middle of April. That gives Cunningham and Detroit's medical team just about one month to figure out his collapsed lung.