Is Marvin Bagley III playing? Latest injury update for Pistons vs. Pacers

Stop me if you have heard this one before: The Detroit Pistons will be shorthanded in their game against the Pacers tonight.

Detroit has lost 11 straight, has the worst record in the league and is knocking on the door of the worst record in franchise history.

Injuries have been the main theme from the get-go, as the Pistons lost Cade Cunningham early and more recently both Isaiah Stewart and Hamidou Diallo have been lost for the rest of the season.

The Pistons have four big men, but they’ve yet to all be in the lineup, so these injuries have been costly, but it does beg the question of whether the Pistons would need all four of them just to have two healthy at the time.

The two-big experiment has bombed so far and yet another one of them will be in street clothes tonight vs. the Pacers.

Detroit Pistons injuries: Is Marvin Bagley III going to play vs. Pacers?

In what should be the least surprising turn of the season, Marvin Bagley III is injured yet again and will miss “the next few games” according to Dwane Casey. Whatever you think of Bagley’s talent, it doesn’t much matter if he is not on the floor, and he will fail to play 50 games for the 4th time in his five year career.

You have to feel for Bagley III, but being healthy is a valuable attribute that he just hasn’t had in his career so far. Giving him a three-year guaranteed contract really was a risky endeavor.

Bagley III will be joined by Jaden Ivey, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Isaiah Stewart, Hamidou Diallo and Cade Cunningham, so there won’t be anyone from the opening night starting five appearing tonight vs Indiana.

Detroit Pistons starting lineup vs. Pacers

At least we won’t have to see any more of the Bagley III/James Wiseman duo, as it has been a disaster. With only two bigs available, Casey will probably start one center (novel idea) and bring the other off the bench, though we could get a few minutes of crossover.

We will likely see a starting five that looks like this:

• Killian Hayes
• Rodney McGruder
• Eugene Omoruyi/RJ Hampton
• Isaiah Livers
• James Wiseman

With Bagley III out, Casey could go with the two young bigs in the starting five, but he’s more likely to bring Duren off the bench to split time since there isn’t another big. We could see either Eugene Omoruyi or RJ Hampton get their first start for the Pistons and it is possible that one or both of the two-way players will get some run tonight as well.

In other words, there is a good chance Detroit is going to lose their 12th in a row unless they can find magic with some of their reserves.