Fantasy Injury Update: Cade Cunningham To Miss Another Week With Collapsed Lung

Going through the latest injury news on combo guard for the Detroit Pistons, Cade Cunningham, and the impact it should have on fantasy basketball.

Mar 17, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) looks on during the first half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

The Detroit Pistons recently gave an injury update on their star player, Cade Cunningham. Back on March 17, in a game against the Washington Wizards, Cunningham suffered an injury early in the first quarter. It was later revealed that the star had a collapsed lung. He has missed the last nine games with the following injury.

Cade Cunningham Injury Update

Mar 12, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff talks with Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) during a break in the action against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first half at Little Caesars Arena. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Since Cunningham has not been available, it has been fairly quiet on the Pistons' front regarding how he has been progressing, until now. Initially, they gave him a two-week time frame for him to be re-evaluated. A little over two weeks after he sustained his injury, they announced before their most recent game against the Minnesota Timberwolves that Cunningham would need at least another week to recover.

This season, Cunningham has been playing at an MVP level. Through the 61 games he has played, he has averaged 24.5 PPG, 9.9 APG, and 5.6 RPG. Unfortunately for him, with the new 65-game rule being applied in last year’s NBA season, the best season of his career will not have the end-of-season awards attached to it that it should. He will not be eligible to be selected as the MVP or make any All-NBA team, with NBA players needing to have played at least 65 games to be eligible for the following awards. The Pistons have just six games left, so with Cunningham being ruled out for at least an additional week, that officially wipes the chance away of him receiving any of these accolades.

While personal accolades are nice, the Pistons are likely not rushing to get their star back on the court because of what they are chasing as a team–an NBA championship.

In the nine games the Pistons have recently played without Cunningham, they have done just fine. They have gone 7-2 over the stretch. They are obviously not the same caliber of team without him on the court, but they are a deep squad and are doing what they need to do to maintain their first seed in the Eastern Conference.

With the six games remaining left in Detroit’s regular season, barring an absolute collapse that they have shown no signs of, their postseason fate, where it currently stands, will not change. In the first seed of the East, they hold a 4.5-game lead over the Boston Celtics. Detroit has a record of 56-21, and Boston has a record of 51-25. In order for the two teams to swap seedings, the Celtics would essentially need to win out, and Detroit would need to lose out.

Fantasy Impact: Cade Cunningham Injury News

Mar 23, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Los Angeles Lakers Jake LaRavia (12) defends against Detroit Pistons Daniss Jenkins (24) during the second half at Little Caesars Arena. | David Reginek-Imagn Images

With Cunningham out for more time, one player who should continue to light up the stat sheet for the remainder of the regular season for the Pistons is guard Daniss Jenkins.

Jenkins, on the season for Detroit, is averaging 9.3 PPG. Over the last nine games, during which Cunningham has been out, he is averaging 19.3 PPG. He should continue to hover around the following average for the remainder of the regular season, and he is definitely a player that people who play DFS should have on their radar.