After missing the Detroit Pistons’ last 11 and 13 games, respectively, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart will both be back for Wednesday’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Cunningham, who’s returning from a left lung pneumothorax, exited five minutes into the Pistons’ March 17 win over the Washington Wizards after a collision with rookie Tre Johnson. Stewart returns after recovering from a Grade 1 left calf strain. He last played in Detroit’s March 13 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Pistons maintained their position atop the East without two of their most valuable players, going 9-4 since Stewart has been sidelined and 8-3 since Cunningham went down to clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference for the first time since 2007. This was Cunningham’s longest time away from the hardwood since a stress fracture in his left shin forced him to miss 70 games during the 2022-23 season.

While Cunningham could apply for the “extraordinary circumstances challenge” considering he’s played a total of 60 games that count toward end-of-season awards and could end with 63, Stewart will not meet the 65-game threshold to qualify for end-of-season awards. Stewart spoke candidly about not being eligible at shootaround.

“I’m feeling good now. That time allowed (my calf) to settle down, allowed me to feel better and allowed me to feel like myself,” Stewart said. “Obviously, it was tough for me because I was trying to chase that 65-game rule to hopefully qualify for an award. But at the end of the day, you have to not be selfish, and I want to be there for my teammates come playoffs.

“(I wanted to make sure) I’m able to play and I’m available, which is the most important thing.”

Stewart has played in 55 games thus far this season and is averaging a career-high 1.6 blocks per game.

At the time of Cunningham’s injury, I spoke with Dr. Daniel H. Sterman, the director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s pulmonary division, to clarify whether any residual effects from a collapsed lung might linger.

“In this particular case, there may not be any because it sounds like there was a predisposing factor,” Sterman told The Athletic in a March phone interview. “It might be more worrisome if it just happened while he was walking down the street or walking to practice or to the shower and had a true spontaneous event, because that could then happen again.

“In this circumstance, if there’s an explanation — someone fell on top of him, there would be less of a concern about reoccurrence, although it certainly could happen. … The ramp up would not necessarily be for his lung per se, but to get back into game shape after a few weeks of not being active.”

Similar to what’s likely the plan for Cunningham, Stewart isn’t expecting to hit the ground running immediately.

“That’s all on the training staff and the plan they put in place to make sure I’m at my best come playoffs,” Stewart said. “So, I’m sure there will be some ramping up. I don’t think they’re going to unleash me fully right now, but thats OK. (I’m) just trusting the plan they’ve got for me to get me back out there and feeling my best come playoffs.”

Cunningham was first spotted back at Detroit’s practice facility a week after suffering the injury, during a post-shootaround session open to reporters ahead of the team’s March 25 game against the Atlanta Hawks. He was working with team trainers in the weight room, but was not yet back to on-court work at that time. He was on the floor with his teammates Wednesday.

Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart are both back at Pistons shootaround this morning: pic.twitter.com/SLcvmKYdFo

— Hunter Patterson (@HunterPatterson) April 8, 2026

For Stewart, his first time publicly resuming on-court activity was Wednesday morning.

This will give them both a chance to suit up before the end of the regular season on April 12. The Pistons will then have a week to prepare for their first-round matchup while the Play-In Tournament ensues. This timeline should afford Cunningham and Stewart the opportunity to knock off any rust accumulated during recovery and have them ready to go for the start of their second playoff appearances.