{"id":693771,"date":"2026-04-02T11:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T11:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/693771\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T11:44:14","slug":"pistons-have-worries-other-than-cade-cunningham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/693771\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons have worries other than Cade Cunningham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cade Cunningham and his recovery from a collapsed lung have dominated discussion around the Detroit Pistons lately, as their season hinges on whether he can make it back, but\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0not their only crucial injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Isaiah Stewart\u2019s injury has been completely overshadowed by Cunningham\u2019s to the point that few people are even talking about it, but Beef Stew\u2019s calf is\u00a0just about as\u00a0important to the\u00a0Pistons\u2019 future as the health of Cunningham\u2019s lung.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pistons have been here before with Isaiah Stewart\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Detroit Pistons were without Stewart for most of their first-round playoff loss to the Knicks last\u00a0season,\u00a0and it showed at times, so much that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0easy to predict the Pistons would have won that series if Beef Stew had been in there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not only is he one of the best rim protectors in the league and a guy his teammates feed\u00a0off of, but Stewart\u2019s defensive versatility would have come in handy trying to check Karl-Anthony Towns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve\u00a0not gotten an update about Stewart since coach JB Bickerstaff said he would be out for \u201csome time\u201d without giving any timeline for his\u00a0possible return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are only six games\u00a0left,\u00a0and it would be great if Stewart could make it back for some of them, but if not, the Pistons are heading into the playoffs with the same glaring absence as last season, though this year, they are better equipped to handle it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pistons\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0playing the Knicks in the first round and have better backups\u00a0<\/p>\n

The good news is that even if Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart are not ready to go for the first round of the playoffs, the Pistons could potentially still win<\/a>\u00a0in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll\u00a0be playing the 8th\u00a0seed, and even though there are no gimmes in the NBA,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a far easier first-round series than the one they had last year, as they will at least have home court advantage and not be playing a\u00a0top four\u00a0seed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0not something they want to have to prove, but the Pistons have played well without Cunningham <\/a>and Stewart this season and have confidence in their backups if they need them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That includes Paul Reed, who has had a much larger role this season with\u00a0all of\u00a0the injuries and suspensions.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0played well off the bench and in the starting five, so\u00a0BBall\u00a0Paul will be ready when and if he is needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even Tolu Smith has shown he can fill in and offer rim protection in a pinch, so the Pistons are in a better position this season when it comes to the potential absence of Stewart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Detroit may be able to\u00a0eke\u00a0out a first-round win without two key players,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not going any further than that, so getting both Cunningham and Stewart back is paramount to their playoff hopes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cade Cunningham and his recovery from a collapsed lung have dominated discussion around the Detroit Pistons lately, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-693771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116334943698832664","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693771","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=693771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}