When Cade Cunningham was ruled out for the season after having surgery on his injured shin, it pretty much guaranteed a lost season for the Detroit Pistons.
Cade is the player they are building around, so it’s hard to evaluate the roster and how certain players fit without their best player in the lineup.
A season that started with dreams of challenging for a play-in spot quickly turned to player development and watching the lottery odds for Victor Wembanyama.
By all accounts the surgery was a successful one, and Cade Cunningham should be able to return next season with no limitations, and should be better than ever.
In a recent article by James Edwards III of The Athletic (SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED), Cade Cunningham talked about his surgery and revealed some information about his shin that should actually give Pistons’ fans more hope for a breakout next season.
Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham’s shin has never been healthy
I’m no doctor, but it seems to me the shin is a pretty important part of the leg and that legs are vitally important to being good at basketball. No really, I swear I’m not a doctor!
That is why fans of the Detroit Pistons should be somewhat excited to find out that Cade’s shin hasn’t been healthy in some time and that he’s been this good playing on a painful leg.
Cunningham told Edwards III that he has been “dealing with various amounts of shin discomfort since high school”, which is something that hadn’t previously been revealed.
I did have some questions hearing this, namely whether the Detroit Pistons knew about this when they drafted Cade Cunningham, and if not, would it have affected their decision. My guess is yes they did know and no it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as they quickly identified him as the player they wanted to build the franchise around.
Even though it was disappointing that we didn’t get to see Cade play much this season, it will be well worth it if this surgery actually clears up the problem and allows him to play unhampered for the first time since high school.
It’s just another reason to believe that Cade is going to come back stronger than ever and will make a big leap next season, this time with both legs fully beneath him.