{"id":703326,"date":"2026-04-07T13:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703326\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:21:21","slug":"cade-cunningham-injury-update-brings-huge-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703326\/","title":{"rendered":"Cade Cunningham injury update brings huge question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniss Jenkins has played well in Cade Cunningham\u2019s absence, helping the Detroit Pistons\u00a0claim\u00a0the number one seed, so what happens when Cade returns?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pistons got the fantastic news <\/a>that Cunningham could return for a game or two in the regular season, which would be the best-case scenario after he was sidelined with a scary injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Jenkins has been a revelation in his absence<\/a> and provided the creation and\u00a0shotmaking\u00a0the Pistons will need once Cunningham returns, so we may see plenty of him in\u00a0the\u00a0playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daniss Jenkins\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0start, but he could play big minutes\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jenkins has been great as a starter this season, averaging over 17 points and seven assists in 19 games, most of which the Pistons won.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Cade returns, Detroit will undoubtedly go back to the starting five they used most of the season, which means Jenkins will return to the bench, where\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0been less consistent.<\/p>\n

But that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean\u00a0he\u2019ll\u00a0stay there, especially if teams are able to effectively target Duncan Robinson <\/a>on the defensive end. Jenkins can provide some of the\u00a0off-ball\u00a0movement and shooting without the defensive problems.<\/p>\n

Robinson has been a part of most of the Pistons\u2019 best defensive lineups this season, so I do think this issue is\u00a0somewhat overblown, but Jenkins will\u00a0provide\u00a0another option along with Kevin Huerter if the Pistons need more defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cade Cunningham will be harder to trap\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jenkins has shown he can handle the offense when Cade is on the bench, but what they do together may be even more important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We know teams are going to trap and double-team Cunningham no matter what, and Jenkins can provide an outlet who can not only\u00a0bring the ball up\u00a0the floor and\u00a0initiate\u00a0the\u00a0offense but\u00a0can attack the rim if teams use his defender to double Cade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jenkins has developed some chemistry with Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson as rollers and cutters, which will\u00a0benefit\u00a0the Pistons when teams sell out to trap Cunningham. If the Pistons can make defenses pay for doubling, they\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be able to do it, which reopens the shop for Cade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cunningham may also need some time to get his game legs under him, so Jenkins could see\u00a0extended\u00a0run in the first round when the Pistons try to buy Cade a few extra minutes of rest on the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No one would have expected this, but Jenkins figures to be a key figure for the Pistons in the playoffs and will continue to play big minutes even when Cade Cunningham returns and is back to 100 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniss Jenkins has played well in Cade Cunningham\u2019s absence, helping the Detroit Pistons\u00a0claim\u00a0the number one seed, so what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-703326","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\/116363636846005456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703326","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=703326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}