Detroit Pistons: A concerning season for Isaiah Livers

The Detroit Pistons had high hopes for Isaiah Livers coming into the season, but so far things have not panned out for the second-year forward.

On paper, Livers seemed like the perfect fit around guys like Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, as he as a lights out catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter whose defensive versatility gave coach Dwane Casey a lot of options.

But injuries have kept us from seeing this trio much at all this season, and what we have seen hasn’t been impressive.

Cade Cunningham is now out for the season and Livers has missed nine games and recently had another setback that is going to cost him at least another 2-3 weeks according to Mike Curtis of The Detroit News.

Injuries happen, but Livers inability to stay on the floor is not the only reason to be concerned.

Detroit Pistons: Isaiah Livers’ injury woes

After missing all but 19 games last season, Isaiah Livers once again finds himself on the injury list.  Livers has now missed 74 of 113 games since joining the league and will be on the shelf for at least a few weeks and maybe more.

This is concerning for a guy who had injury problems in college and had that moniker hanging over him, which is one of the reasons he fell to the second round of the NBA Draft. Livers could be a steal, but first he has to be able to stay on the floor, and so far that hasn’t happened.

Hopefully, these are just flukes and not the sign of a injury-prone player, but it is concerning that he has missed so many games this early in his career.

Isaiah Livers’ shooting stats

In the 22 games that Livers has played this season, his shooting has not been impressive, as he is hitting just 40 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range, both down significantly from last season.

He’s playing the same minutes and getting even more attempts, but so far has not flashed the type of knock-down 3-point shooting that many though would get him into the starting five at some point this season.

Livers is a good defender and does a lot of little things as a glue guy, but his most valuable trait to the shooting-starved Detroit Pistons is knocking down 3-point shots.

There is obviously a lot of season left, so Isaiah Livers has time to get healthy and get back on track as a shooter, but so far his season has been disappointing, and if he doesn’t turn things around in terms of health and shooting, the Detroit Pistons may not be able to count on him as a rotation player moving forward.