How the Marvin Bagley III injury will affect the Pistons’ rotation

The Detroit Pistons were hoping to making it through the preseason without a major injury but that dream ended quickly last night as Marvin Bagley III went down just a minute into the game.

MBIII slipped on what appeared to be a wet floor, and one leg did the splits while the other buckled behind him. He wasn’t able to walk off the floor, and I don’t want to speculate, but it didn’t look great.

Let’s hope it’s just a mild sprain and not a tear, as this a big year for Marvin Bagley III after he signed an extension to stay in Detroit.

With Bojan Bogdanovic also sitting out against the Thunder the Pistons turned to rookie Jalen Duren, who got into some early foul trouble but turned in a good performance overall, grabbing 10 rebounds in 25 minutes.

Hopefully Bagley III won’t be out long, but if he does have to miss some time, what does it mean for the Pistons’ rotation? There are really only two options.

Detroit Pistons rotation after Marvin Bagley III injury: Option #1

The first and most obvious option is just to go back to the starting lineup that Detroit used in the first preseason game and have Jalen Duren be the first big man off the bench:

• Cade Cunningham/Killian Hayes
• Jaden Ivey/Alec Burks (Cory Joseph for now)
• Saddiq Bey/Hamidou Diallo
• Bojan Bogdanovic/Isaiah Livers
• Isaiah Stewart/Jalen Duren

This is the most likely option but it does create some problems for Detroit defensively, as having Saddiq Bey and Bogdanovic on the floor at the same time isn’t ideal, especially if the Pistons are going to switch everything on the perimeter as they have so far.

Once Nerlens Noel gets back, Detroit will have a second option, which is to go big.

Pistons rotation option #2

The Pistons don’t currently have a third center with Noel out, but he should be back soon, which will give them the option to go big and possibly run out a better defense:

• Cade Cunningham/Killian Hayes
• Jaden Ivey/Alec Burks (CoJo)
• Saddiq Bey/Isaiah Livers
• Isaiah Stewart/Bojan Bogdanovic
• Jalen Duren/Nerlens Noel

This option not only makes Detroit’s starting five better defensively, but gives them three shooters off the bench to go with Killian Hayes and Nerlens Noel, which might be the best way to take advantage of Killian’s dribble penetration and passing, as he’d have a lob threat along with three shooters to kick out to.

The question is whether that starting five has enough spacing around Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, but there is going to be plenty of crossover between the groups and guys like Bogdanovic and Burks are going to play big minutes whether they start or not.

This is probably the starting five of the future, but until Nerlens Noel is ready to go, the Pistons will likely roll with the first group.

Losing a rotation player before the season even starts is a big blow, so let’s hope MBIII’s injury is minor and that he’ll return soon, but if he doesn’t, they do have options.