Leave it to Detroit to build their best team in two decades and immediately have the universe test them. The Pistons sit at 52-19, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, a franchise that was lottery fixtures for years finally playing like they belong at the top. And then, on March 17 against the Washington Wizards of all teams — not in a playoff game, not against a title contender — Cade Cunningham goes down with a collapsed lung [1]. Of course he does. This is Detroit sports we're talking about.
The good news is it's being called mild — a pneumothorax that doctors believe will resolve before the playoffs tip off April 18 [2]. Cunningham is expected back. The bad news is that 'expected back before playoffs' and 'fully healthy and sharp for a seven-game series' are two different things, and any Pistons fan who's been paying attention for the last twenty years knows that Detroit rarely gets the clean version of anything.
What a Collapsed Lung Actually Means
A pneumothorax — collapsed lung for the rest of us — happens when air leaks into the space between the lung and chest wall, causing the lung to partially collapse. In mild cases, it can resolve without surgery, just rest and monitoring. The closest NBA comparison in recent memory is CJ McCollum, who suffered a collapsed lung in 2016 and missed roughly three to seven weeks depending on how you count his return-to-play timeline [2]. Cunningham's camp is projecting a similar arc. The Pistons have 11 regular-season games remaining before April 18, which gives them a cushion — if everything goes cleanly. No setbacks. No overexertion during the recovery process. Every 'if' matters here.
