Is Killian Hayes playing tonight? Latest Injury update for Pistons vs. Rockets

The Detroit Pistons will take on the Houston Rockets tonight in a battle of the two worst teams in the NBA.

The Pistons currently have the dubious honor of being the league’s worst team, but Houston is just 1.5 games ahead, so this game could end up being crucial in the lottery standings, especially if Detroit were to win.

The Pistons haven’t been doing much winning of late, as they have lost seven in a row and 18-of-19 games overall with most of their veterans on the bench with suspicious injuries.

The Rockets have lost seven in a row themselves, so if you were wondering if tanking is still going on in the NBA, don’t worry, the tradition is alive and well even after the league changed the odds to try and reduce it.

Both teams will be missing key players tonight, but in the case of Detroit, they are about one more injury away from George Blaha suiting up on the wing (happy belated B-day to the legend!).

Tonight may feature lineups even weirder than the one we saw Detroit use to close out the game against the Thunder, which had three guys who weren’t even on the team when the season started.

The growing list of the wounded could have another player added to it tonight.

Detroit Pistons vs Houston Rockets: Will Killian Hayes play tonight?

Killian Hayes went down with an apparent leg injury late in the game against OKC, which forced the Pistons to go with a mighty backcourt of Cory Joseph and RJ Hampton, as Jaden Ivey had already fouled out.

Hayes came down awkwardly and went to the floor, and when he tried to stand, his leg buckled beneath him, which didn’t look great. He’s listed as day-to-day on ESPN, but has not yet shown up on the official injury report that will be updated throughout the day.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the Pistons will be taking precaution with anyone right now, as they don’t want any serious injuries heading into the offseason and they are not trying to win games anyway.

Hayes will (likely) be joined by Rodney McGruder, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Isaiah Stewart, Hamidou Diallo and Cade Cunningham, who have all been ruled out. Houston will be missing Jae’sean Tate and Kenyon Martin Jr. is questionable.

A loss tonight pretty much ensures Detroit will end the season with the NBA’s worst record, which means they could only drop to 5th in the draft, which is really the only benefit, as the odds are the same otherwise.

Get ready for an ugly game tonight.