I’ve spent the morning trying to process the Jaden Ivey injury news and am still firmly in the denial stage, hoping that this won’t set the team back too much or endanger Ivey’s long-term future with the Pistons, but it’s hard not to be pessimistic.
Ivey will be re-evaluated in the middle of November after having a procedure for knee discomfort that had been bothering him progressively throughout training camp, something the team never bothered to mention until after he had the procedure.
In the best-case scenario, Ivey is back before December and has plenty of time to get into a groove for a playoff push. The worst-case scenario is that we keep getting “he’ll be evaluated again in two weeks” in perpetuity.
Ivey’s future with the team was already murky, but this latest injury may put his career with the Pistons in jeopardy.
Jaden Ivey injury: The Pistons have to move on for now
The season isn’t going to wait for Ivey, so the Pistons will likely turn to Duncan Robinson as a replacement in the starting five in the short term.
Ivey was a big part of the plans this season, so it’s not like the Pistons are going to forget about him, but he’s out and the show must go on, so they have to find ways to win without him, as they did last season.
If the Pistons are playing well without Ivey, that may affect their decision on whether to retain him in restricted free agency if he doesn’t get extended in the next three days, which seems highly unlikely.
It may also compel the Pistons to trade him before the deadline, though that seems less likely now that he is injured again after coming off a different devastating injury. Teams are going to view him as damaged goods until he proves he isn’t, and that includes the Pistons.
Last season was supposed to be the one in which Ivey showed he can be the second banana next to Cade Cunningham, but that has now been pushed back twice, and we still don’t have answers to the biggest questions hanging over the Pistons.
I don’t want to be too pessimistic here, as Ivey could make a comeback, be great for this team and have a long career in Detroit. But the Pistons have to move on and at some point, that’s going to be permanent, especially if they play well without him or his injury lingers.
I hope to see Jaden Ivey succeeding for the Pistons for years to come, but right now that future is murkier than it’s ever been.