{"id":706696,"date":"2026-04-09T15:54:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/706696\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:54:35","slug":"how-cade-cunningham-feels-about-nbas-65-game-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/706696\/","title":{"rendered":"How Cade Cunningham feels about NBA’s 65-game rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Pistons<\/a> closed out their home season finale with a 137-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>. It was also Fan Appreciation Night, and the Little Caesars Arena crowd was treated to a major surprise with the return of point guard Cade Cunningham<\/a>. Detroit’s All-Star guard played his first game since suffering a collapsed lung against the Washington Wizards back on March 17.<\/p>\n

There was a clear joy in the arena seeing the Pistons’ franchise player back on the floor. Cunningham has been a key leader in Detroit’s 2025-26 dominance. However, the All-NBA guard may not be able to reap the rewards of this season due to the league’s 65-game rule. Cunningham has played 62 games this season and may only finish with 64 on his game log this season due to the injuries he has suffered. He spoke on the necessity and the difficulty of the rule<\/a> to the media after the victory against the Bucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a lot of different ways about it. I think what they\u2019re trying to do with it is have superstars play and not sit out just to rest because fans pay a lot of money to come watch us play games. I have a lot of respect for that. The fans come to watch me play, and I want to make sure I\u2019m available and I give them a show whenever they come out. In that way, I respect the rule. I think it\u2019s a good rule in that way,\u201d Cunningham explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough for me right now this year because I think I did a lot of work to be in consideration for awards and All-NBA and all that stuff. I\u2019m in a tough spot, but I think it will all play out how it\u2019s supposed to play out, and I\u2019m just trying to do my best to help my team win\u2026I just keep doing my job day-by-day and whatever comes will come and whatever is meant to be will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham has suffered quite a few injuries this season, but the collapsed lung has arguably been the most jarring. The injury was originally diagnosed as back spasms, causing Cunningham to miss the rest of the game. It then escalated to a collapsed lung as the analysis went on, causing more serious concern.<\/p>\n

The Pistons went 8-3 in the absence of their starting point guard. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff effectively utilized the depth of his roster and the team’s defensive identity to maintain Detroit’s winning way.<\/p>\n

Cunningham took time to reflect on his recovery process. His time away was a challenging task for Cunningham as well as the team, despite the success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was different than any other injury I\u2019ve ever had as far as how it progressed initially, from whenever I got hit to how I started to feel as time went on. Thanks to all the staff and medical that was around and helped me through that time. I was kind of beat up, and I was panicking a lot just with what I was feeling and stuff. They helped get me comfortable and helped me get through that,\u201d Cunningham stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I got to the house, [I just did] a lot of resting. I couldn\u2019t get my heart rate up, which was boring. My heart rate went up a few times watching the team. It was fun to be able to watch from a different perspective like that. I think I learned a lot. Watching the team grow the way they did and handle business the way they did was a lot of fun. But I\u2019m glad I\u2019m back. I\u2019m just thankful for all the support and prayers and everything that was sent my way. Means a lot to have all that support and all that love sent to me. I\u2019m just happy and feel blessed to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham also spoke on the possibility of applying for an exception to still apply and qualify for NBA awards. The productivity of the 24-year-old guard had him in conversations for MVP and an All-NBA team. Cunningham is no longer eligible for MVP candidacy, but there is a possibility he can apply for an \u201cextraordinary circumstances challenge\u201d for the league to reconsider his All-NBA positioning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Pistons closed out their home season finale with a 137-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. It was also Fan Appreciation Night, and the Little Caesars Arena crowd was treated to a major surprise with the return of point guard Cade Cunningham. Detroit’s All-Star guard played his first game since suffering a collapsed lung against the Washington Wizards back on March 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Pistons closed out their home season finale with a 137-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,296,188,3860,3578,6,297,2144],"class_list":["post-706696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-pistons","tag-basketball","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-detroitpistons","tag-jb-bickerstaff","tag-nba","tag-pistons","tag-reporting"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116375562709043026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706696","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=706696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}