The Pistons had an extensive injury report on Monday night against the Wizards, and now their two best players have joined it. Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren are both on the list for the first time this season heading into Wednesday’s showdown with the Bulls. Both will hopefully still be able to play, but this is becoming a very worrying trend for the Pistons.
The Pistons’ whole roster is injured
Cade is dealing with a left hip contusion after taking a hard foul in the fourth quarter against Washington. He’s coming off one of the toughest performances of his career on the second night of a back-to-back. Cade is also second in the entire NBA in minutes played so far, and all that mileage may be taking a toll on his body.
Meanwhile, Duren becomes the fourth Piston to deal with an ankle sprain concurrently. He joins Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Stewart and Tobias Harris with the common ailment. Ankle sprains can vary greatly in severity, but the other three were all forced out of the game against the Wizards with their injuries.
Cunningham and Duren were the only regular starters available Monday night, so it’s no wonder that they carried a heavy load. In that overtime contest, Cunningham played a whopping 44 minutes while Duren tallied 40 of his own. By the end of the game, both looked exhausted but fortunately for some surprise contributions off the bench.
Injuries are always an unfortunate reality of professional sports, but having so many at once across a team does raise some questions. The Pistons have played an incredibly physical brand of basketball this season, dominating the paint on both ends like no other team in the league. This style has played to the roster’s strengths but it might be pushing the players too hard.
The Pistons have not gotten strong play from their bench so far this season. They rank 23rd in the NBA in bench points per game, and 22nd in bench minutes per game. The roster has been thin to start the season, as key guards Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser have yet to play, and JB Bickerstaff has leaned heavily on his starters in nearly every game.
As the names on the injury list continue to pile up, the Pistons must find a way to tackle the issue. Their current approach of continuing to lean more and more heavily on their proven players to fill in for their injured teammates is already showing its deadly consequences. Hopefully the Pistons can have a stroke of newfound depth in one way or another and spare the bodies of their young stars from more excessive wear and tear.