UPDATE: Cade Cunningham was at morning shootaround for the Pistons.
It’s been a solid season for the Pistons, but the team is starting drop in the Eastern Conference standings, having lost five of its last seven contests. You’d certainly like to get a victory against a team chasing you for home court advantage in the Play-In, but that could be a difficult task on Friday if Cade Cunningham is unable to play through his questionable tag.
Here’s the good news: Cunningham has been incredibly durable in 2024-25, and hasn’t missed a game since the beginning of December. He also didn’t look very injured during Wednesday’s narrow loss to the Cavaliers, when he went off for 38 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals in 37.9 minutes of action.
You can not overstate how large a void Cunningham’s potential absence would leave in Detroit’s rotation. The All-Star leads the Pistons in points per game (25.6), assists per game (9.4), minutes per game (35.7) and usage rate (33.0%). In fact, Cunningham sits fourth in the league in usage, sitting behind only the likes of LaMelo Ball, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With Cunningham and Jaden Ivey (leg) off the floor this season, Malik Beasley sports a team-high 25.3% usage rate. The veteran wing would be a candidate to move into the starting five if Cunningham ends up inactive. Tobias Harris, Ausar Thompson and Tim Hardaway Jr. would also be asked to shoulder a much larger offensive load versus Philadelphia.
