The Detroit Pistons have gotten off to a horrible start this season and are now getting hit with the injury bug at exactly the wrong time.
Not that there is ever a good time for injuries, but the Pistons are already missing Cade Cunningham and yesterday got news that center/forward Isaiah Stewart will be out at least 2-3 weeks with a toe injury.
Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart will miss, at least, the next 2-3 weeks with a sprain of the right big toe, sources tell me. Detroit had just gotten back Jalen Duren and Marvin Bagley last week. Big blow for a team struggling defensively.@wojespn was first.
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) November 15, 2022
This is just as the Pistons are getting ready to start a brutal stretch of the schedule with six games in a row on the road. Not a great time to have two starters out of the rotation.
Stewart had been playing well of late, shooting over 40 percent from long range in his last 10 games, leading the team in rebounding and being one of the only reliable defenders in a shaky defense.
His loss is going to be big for the Detroit Pistons, who are now going to have to make adjustments to their starting five. There are a lot of options, but none of them are very appealing.
Detroit Pistons starting lineups after Isaiah Stewart injury
The Detroit Pistons don’t have the depth to withstand the loss of two starters, so all of their starting lineup options have issues. The mostly likely choice would be to move Saddiq Bey back to the starting lineup and roll with this group:
- Killian Hayes
- Jaden Ivey
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- Saddiq Bey
- Marvin Bagley III
If I had to guess, I’d say this is the one we’ll see until Cade Cunningham returns and pushes Killian back to the bench.
This is a group that is going to have a hard time defending, as Bogs, Bey and MBIII are all below average defenders and there will almost always be a mismatch somewhere.
If coach Dwane Casey really wants to bring Bey back as a starter, then he may have to add some defense into the starting five.