Cade Cunningham
Getty
Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons is dealing with a wrist injury.
The Detroit Pistons are at the top of the East standings because of Cade Cunningham playing like an MVP this season. Amid the continued success of the team ahead of the All-Star break, the Pistons dropped some worrying news on Cunningham’s lingering injury.
Cunningham has been dealing with a wrist injury since the first week of January. He missed a couple of games because of the issue, and it helped that the Pistons had a four-day break from January 11 to 14. He also missed the January 21 game against the New Orleans Pelicans because of it.
The former No. 1 pick was in Detroit’s injury report before their game against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. It was the same wrist injury, but he was eventually cleared to play. He put up 29 points, five rebounds, 11 assists and three steals as the Pistons beat the Kings, 139-116.
With season averages of 25.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 1.5 steals, Cunningham was selected as an All-Star starter. He was joined by Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown.
J.B. Bickerstaff Shares Update on Cunningham’s Injury
Speaking to reporters before Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings, coach J.B. Bickerstaff provided an update on Cade Cunningham’s injury. Bickerstaff felt how Cunningham endured the pain to play through it, especially with the injury affecting his shooting hand.
“It’s not easy what he’s going through. Obviously, wrist on your shooting hand makes things a little bit more difficult. Whether it’s your shooting, just receiving the basketball, passing the basketball, having to guard guys, all those things. It’s one of those things that we’re hopeful, it just takes time,” Bickerstaff said, via Jacob Richman of MLive.com.
The coach added that the Pistons don’t have a clear timeline on when Cunningham will be fully recovered from the injury. The superstar guard is “gutting” it out every time he plays, but the franchise is doing it all to keep him healthy as much as possible with a combination of treatment and rest.
Cunningham Shares Thoughts on His Injury
After dropping 29 points against the Sacramento Kings, Cade Cunningham spoke to reporters to talk about his best performance since the injury happened. Cunningham admitted that it’s all about going through the mental hurdles of having pain in his hand until he figures out his rhythm again.
“It’s been hard, it’s been a battle as far as mentally, as far as figuring out how I can help us while not liking how I felt shooting, and just constantly flinching when I was shooting because I didn’t know how it would feel, it was hurting sometimes, sometimes I’d be able to release and the ball would come out fine. It took some time, but I think it was great reps for me, I think it was a great experience as far as finding ways to help the team,” Cunningham said, via Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.
With the NBA All-Star break fast approaching, it would be the best time to get his wrist fully healed up, though Cunningham is set to represent one of the two USA teams.