{"id":668178,"date":"2026-03-20T04:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/668178\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:49:19","slug":"massive-knicks-nba-finals-roadblock-shifts-with-cade-cunningham-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/668178\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive Knicks NBA Finals roadblock shifts with Cade Cunningham injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major variable in the Knicks\u2019 path to the NBA Finals just changed. Cade Cunningham is out<\/a> \u2014 with no timeline for a return.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Pistons announced Thursday that Cunningham has been diagnosed with a \u201cmild\u201d collapsed lung, an injury expected to sideline the All-Star guard for an extended period. Whether he can return in time for the playoffs \u2014 or whether it will be safe for him to do so \u2014 remains unclear.<\/p>\n

That uncertainty has immediate implications for the Eastern Conference \u2014 and for the Knicks. Because Cunningham is the engine behind a Pistons team that entered the final stretch of the season holding the No. 1 seed in the East \u2014 and one that has consistently overwhelmed New York.<\/p>\n

The Knicks have lost all three matchups against Detroit this season. They lost three of four last year as well, even while surviving a first-round playoff series in six games.<\/p>\n

And if the Knicks were going to reach the NBA Finals, the path was always going to involve dealing with Cunningham and a physical Pistons team built around him.<\/p>\n

Now, that path could look different. With 13 games remaining, Detroit holds a 3.5-game lead over the Boston Celtics for the top seed and sits five games ahead of the Knicks in third. But that positioning is now vulnerable \u2014 especially with eight of the Pistons\u2019 final 14 games coming against teams still competing for playoff positioning.<\/p>\n

Remove Cunningham from that equation, and the East becomes more fluid. It already was with Tyrese Haliburton out recovering from an Achilles injury and Jayson Tatum\u2019s mid-season return to form from his own Achilles rupture, too. And now Cunningham \u2014 an All-NBA playmaker averaging 24.5 points, 9.9 assists and 5.6 rebounds \u2014 adds to the East\u2019s uncertainty.<\/p>\n

On paper, that softens the most difficult matchup standing between the Knicks and a Finals appearance. But it doesn\u2019t guarantee anything \u2014 and it may not even benefit New York in the way it appears.<\/p>\n

Because if Detroit slips, the most likely team to capitalize is Boston, not the Knicks. The Celtics sit just 3.5 games back of the No. 1 seed. The Knicks are five games behind and have less margin to close the gap.<\/p>\n

That creates a different kind of scenario: If the Pistons fall to the No. 2 or No. 3 seed without Cunningham, the Knicks wouldn\u2019t see them in the Conference Finals. They\u2019d see them earlier \u2014 in the second round. The order of matchups would shift, potentially forcing New York to deal with a still-dangerous Detroit team sooner rather than later in a postseason run with little room for error.<\/p>\n

Plus, collapsed lung history makes a strong case for a speedy Cunningham return to action.<\/p>\n

CJ McCollum missed roughly six weeks with the injury in 2021 and about a month in 2023. Terrence Jones returned in roughly two weeks in 2015. Gerald Wallace missed seven games in 2009, though his case required intubation.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no consistent recovery window for a collapsed lung.\u00a0\u00a0Detroit has labeled Cunningham\u2019s injury \u201cmild.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in New York, there\u2019s a more immediate issue. The Knicks haven\u2019t shown they can handle the Pistons, regardless of health. They\u2019ve lost all three matchups this season \u2014 by 37, 31 and 15 points. The 15-point loss came in a game where Detroit was without both Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart due to suspension.<\/p>\n

There are contextual notes. New York was without Josh Hart in one game, OG Anunoby in another. But those explanations don\u2019t change the larger takeaway: the Pistons have controlled the matchup for two years. The Knicks, meanwhile, are 18-13 against top-six teams from either conference this season. It\u2019s a good record, but the performances haven\u2019t been remotely compelling enough record to assume anything about how a playoff series would unfold this season.<\/p>\n

Cunningham\u2019s timeline only adds to the uncertainty. That doesn\u2019t make the timeline predictable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just another variable outside the Knicks\u2019 control, another storyline underscoring the importance of maximizing the opportunity available this season.<\/p>\n

Because next year, the path won\u2019t be this wide-open. And if the Knicks can\u2019t capitalize this year, there\u2019s no telling what will happen in another offseason the front office spends scrambling to improve the roster in what\u2019s sure to be a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major variable in the Knicks\u2019 path to the NBA Finals just changed. Cade Cunningham is out \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,909,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-668178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cade-cunningham","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks","16":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116259701869079453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668178","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=668178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}