{"id":667552,"date":"2026-03-19T21:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/667552\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T21:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:26:21","slug":"what-is-pneumothorax-cade-cunningham-injury-explained-detroit-pistons-await-reevaluation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/667552\/","title":{"rendered":"What is pneumothorax? Cade Cunningham injury explained: Detroit Pistons await reevaluation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">DETROIT \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/topic\/Pistons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/topic\/Pistons\/\">Detroit Pistons<\/a> two-time All-Star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/topic\/Cade_Cunningham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cade Cunningham<\/a> will miss an extended period of time due to a pneumothorax.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/19\/report-pistons-star-cade-cunningham-to-miss-extended-period-due-to-collapsed-lung\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/19\/report-pistons-star-cade-cunningham-to-miss-extended-period-due-to-collapsed-lung\/\">ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania reported on X Thursday (March 19)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just in: Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung and is expected to miss an extended period of time, sources tell ESPN. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JIHABIIOY5\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/JIHABIIOY5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/2034619856423649708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">A pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, occurs when air leaks into the space between the lung and the chest wall, often causing sudden, sharp chest pain and shortness of breath.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The injury is more commonly featured in contact sports like the NFL, but there have been other cases, including some prominent names.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">CJ McCollum suffered the injury in 2023, missing 12 games in a four-week span, and then again in 2021, where he missed 18 games in six weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Terrance Jones suffered the same injury in 2015, costing him six games in a two-week span, and former All-Star Gerald Wallace missed seven games in three weeks back in 2009.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Although not confirmed, Cunningham suffered the injury on March 17 against the Washington Wizards while diving for a loose ball when shooting guard Tre Johnson kneed him in the ribs.<\/p>\n<p>Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham will miss an extended period of time due to a pneumothorax. (Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit &#8211; All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Detroit has 14 games remaining and is one month out until the playoffs start, so it\u2019s possible that Cunningham could miss the remainder of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">If he does, Cunningham, who has played in only 61 games, would not qualify for the Most Valuable Player award or the All-NBA teams, as the threshold is 65 regular-season games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Cunningham, before exiting the game with the then-reported back spasms, recorded six points and two rebounds in just 5 minutes and 20 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham will miss an extended period of time due to a pneumothorax. (Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit &#8211; All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">He has appeared in 61 games so far this season, and players need to play in at least 65 games to be eligible for major postseason honors such as MVP and All-NBA selections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Pistons confirmed the report on Thursday, saying that Cunningham would be re-evaluated in two weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cAfter further testing, Pistons guard Cade Cunningham has been diagnosed with a left lung pneumothorax,\u201d the team said. \u201cCunningham exited Tuesday\u2019s game vs. the Wizards in the first quarter. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Cunningham was averaging 25 points, 10 assists, and 5.6 rebounds before the injury news.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2013 Detroit Pistons two-time All-Star Cade Cunningham will miss an extended period of time due to a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-667552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cade-cunningham","10":"tag-detroit","11":"tag-detroit-pistons","12":"tag-detroitpistons","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116257961237617799","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}