The Detroit Pistons have been the top team in the Eastern Conference for the entire season, and one of the reasons was that they're fairly healthy. Over the past week or so, they've dealt with a few injuries, and the latest one might be the biggest blow of them all. Cade Cunningham was diagnosed with a collapsed lung, and he is expected to miss an extended period of time.

That's not the best news for the Pistons right now, especially with the regular season ending in about three weeks. There's no specific timetable for a return, but there have been several athletes throughout the years who have dealt with a collapsed lung.

The most recent athlete was TJ Watt from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he missed two games with a collapsed lung following a dry needling procedure.

Article Continues Below

The latest basketball player who had the lung issue was CJ McCollum, and he had it happen twice in his career. In 2021, he missed six weeks, and in 2023, he missed three weeks. Injury analyst Jeff Stotts noted that the average time lost for a basketball player with a collapsed lung is 26 days, which is around 10 games.

It's uncertain how serious the injury is for Cunningham, and the severity may depend on how much time he misses on the court.

Cunninhgam is averaging 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 9.9 assists per game, and he has been the engine for the team's success this season. For the Pistons, it will now be next man up, and the guards will have to do a lot of heavy lifting for now. That also means that Jalen Duren will be looked upon to carry the team for the time being.

It will also be interesting to see if the Pistons drop in the standings with roughly 15 games remaining in the season. The Boston Celtics are only 3.5 games back from the No. 1 seed, and they've been rolling with Jayson Tatum back in the lineup for the past two weeks.