Pistons news: The buzz, the surge and Cade Cunningham's stats without Jaden Ivey

It’s hard to remember a time when I woke up feeling better about the Detroit Pistons. 

They are two games above .500 in January, exceeding even my most optimistic predictions and don’t look now but the Detroit Pistons have the league buzzing. 

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen anything positive written about the Pistons in the national media, but Cade Cunningham has put the league on notice, and they are starting to notice. 

The Pistons are surging, winning 10 of their last 12 games to climb within a game of the 5th seed with the Pacers looming on Thursday. 

The Pistons are 6-1 since Jaden Ivey broke his leg, and you can see that veterans Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris put it on themselves to do more in his absence and they have, with a different guy nearly every night. 

Aside from conference leaders Cleveland and OKC, the Pistons are the hottest team in basketball and this is starting to look less like a “frisky” team and more like one that could be sustainably good. 

You’d have to go back to the days of Chauncey Billups and co. to find a Pistons team I liked this much and you’d have to go back even further to find a guy playing as well as Cade Cunningham is playing right now. 

Forget about All-Star, Cade should be on the fringes of the MVP discussion given where the Pistons were last year compared to now, and he has picked it up even more since backcourt mate Jaden Ivey went down. 

Cade Cunningham’s stats without Jaden Ivey 

I wrote about some harsh truths yesterday, which is that there is no guarantee Jaden Ivey will be back this season, and if he’s not, he may not be back at all, as the Pistons are primed to make a big trade. 

The Pistons are 7-3 without Ivey, 6-1 after he broke his leg, and Cade Cunningham has averaged 29.2 points, 8.7 assists and 6.8 rebounds in that stretch while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 43 percent from long range. 

This is not me saying that the Pistons are better without Ivey, only that others have stepped up in his absence, showing resilience and team chemistry that has been lacking for years. 

This also doesn’t mean the Pistons don’t need Ivey, but if they can get along without him, they may decide to invest resources elsewhere rather than give him a huge extension this summer. 

Ivey’s injury is the only dark cloud hanging over what has been the most fun and entertaining season in ages.  

I don’t know what else to say but, LET’S GOOOOOOOOO!