Pistons news: Marvin Bagley III injury, rotation and 10-day contracts

The Detroit Pistons got more bad news on the injury front yesterday when it was announced that Marvin Bagley III will have to miss significant time with a hand injury.

The Pistons have already lost Cade Cunningham for the season and Isaiah Livers has also missed significant time, so they will be shorthanded for the foreseeable future.

The timetable for MBIII’s return is 6-8 weeks according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, which would put him out until at least the end of February and likely cost him around 23 games minimum. Marvin Bagley III is a guy who hasn’t had much injury luck in his career, as he hasn’t played more than 48 games in a season since his rookie year.

Let’s face it, the Detroit Pistons weren’t playing well with MBIII in there, so it’s not like they can get much worse than the performance we saw against Portland, but losing him does put a strain on the big-man rotation and might cause the Pistons to make a roster move.

Detroit Pistons news: Marvin Bagley III’s injury, the rotation and 10-day contracts

In the short term, the Detroit Pistons will likely just use Isaiah Stewart more at the five with the second unit and defrost Nerlens Noel, who is actually going to have to work for his paycheck.

Noel has expressed interest in being traded, but the Pistons need him now, so he’ll get a chance to prove that he can still play, which will help his cause of being moved before the trade deadline if he can help bolster the Pistons’ second-unit defense.

Detroit’s defense has been the worst in team history, so perhaps having a solid veteran defender in there for 20 minutes a game will help. But this is going to put a lot of pressure on the young forecourt of Stewart and Jalen Duren, as they are going to have to play even bigger minutes and stay out of foul trouble.

This could also force Detroit to make a move, as Thursday January 5th is the first day that teams can sign players to 10-day contracts. The problem is that Detroit doesn’t have a roster spot, so even if they found a big man they wanted to sign, they’d have to cut someone (please make it Kevin Knox) which makes it less likely.

The Pistons have the worst record in the NBA already, so it’s not like they are battling for a playoff spot, which means it’s unlikely that any type of roster move is coming unless it is part of a bigger trade nearer the deadline or Detroit decides to part ways with one of their bench guys.

For now, the Pistons are going to have to make due with the big men they have and hope that Noel can give a boost to their terrible defense.