detroit pistons star Cade Cunningham He has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung and is expected to be absent for a long time.
The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons announced Thursday that Cunningham has a pneumothorax of his left lung and will be reevaluated in two weeks, meaning he will miss at least eight games.
Sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Cunningham’s collapsed lung is considered mild.
Sources told Charania that there is some optimism that Cunningham will return in time for the start of the playoffs, which begin April 18.
Cunningham, who is leading the NBA MVP race, missed Tuesday’s game washington wizards What Pistone initially described as back spasms.
The two-time All-Star guard suffered the injury when he jumped for a loose ball and collided with the Wizards guard. trey johnson 7:44 left in the first quarter. It appeared that Cunningham was laboring until he checked out at 1:04 p.m.
The Pistons (49-19), who play at Washington again on Thursday, are three and a half games ahead of the lead boston celtics (46-23) on top of the East standings.
Detroit entered Thursday games 5-2 without Cunningham this season.
Cunningham, 24, has averaged 24.5 points and 9.9 assists in 61 games this season for the Pistons – second-most in the NBA – fantastic numbers for a club that is on pace for its best season in nearly two decades.
Only eight players in NBA history have finished a season averaging that many points and assists, and Cunningham would be the first player to do so in a Detroit uniform.
Because he only lasted five minutes in Tuesday’s contest, Cunningham needs to play at least five more games to reach the 65-game threshold needed to be eligible for the league’s regular-season awards such as MVP, All-NBA teams and Defensive Player of the Year.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
