Cade Cunningham's injury might've ended the Pistons' NBA title hopes

The 2025-26 NBA season has been nothing short of magical for a Detroit Pistons team that enters Thursday's action with a 49-19 record. Detroit holds the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference by a comfortable 3.5-game margin and has looked like a NBA Championship-caliber team wire-to-wire, thanks largely to the play of Cade Cunningham, a player who has quickly established himself as a superstar. Things can change in an eye blink, though, and all of a sudden, their NBA title hopes could be hanging by a thread based on what ESPN's Shams Charania revealed.

Cade Cunningham is expected to miss a lengthy period of time with a collapsed lung, and as of now, no timetable for his return has been revealed. The regular season ends in less than a month. It's entirely possible that Cunningham will be out for much, if not the entire postseason now. That is nothing short of crushing.

Pistons NBA title hopes hinge on Cade Cunningham's return

Winning an NBA title without Cunningham would be a virtually impossible task for the Pistons, as good as this team is. That's no knock on them - winning a title without the best player is nearly impossible for just about any team - but few, if any, players are more important to their team than Cunningham is to Detroit.

The 24-year-old is averaging 24.5 points per game on 46.1/34.6/81.4 percent shooting splits, to go along with 5.6 rebounds and 9.9 assists. He was named an All-Star for a second straight year, and while he probably isn't the NBA MVP frontrunner, he could've easily been named a finalist for the award.

As impressive as those numbers are, the Pistons are a plus-1.6 points per 100 in the minutes he's been on the bench this year, a painfully average mark. They go from being legitimate contenders with Cunningham to a team just trying to survive a short stint of him on the bench. It's not as if Cunningham is even on the bench that much - he ranks just outside of the top 10 among qualified players in minutes per game with an average of 34.4 per night - but the Pistons still struggle mightily when he isn't on the court. How will that look when he's out for an extended period of time?

Detroit's second-leading scorer is Jalen Duren, a player who relies on facilitators like Cunningham getting him the ball in the paint. Detroit's second-leading assister is Daniss Jenkins, a breakout player in his own right, but one who shouldn't be playing 30 minutes per night. There's a good chance that Marcus Sasser, a player with just 17 career starts across three seasons, will take Cunningham's spot in the starting lineup.

You just don't win championships without a guy like Cunningham. All of a sudden, these Eastern Conference teams have to like their odds of representing the East in the Finals.

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics lost three of their four regular season matchups to the Pistons, but all four of those games were decided by single digits, and each one took place with Cunningham in the lineup for Detroit and Jayson Tatum out for Boston. Well, Cunningham is now out for who knows how long, and Tatum is back and looking healthy following his Achilles tear.

The Pistons were narrowly better than Boston with Cunningham and without Tatum factoring in. Now, the pendulum flips completely in Boston's favor, and the Celtics, currently the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, might now be the favorites to win the East.

New York Knicks

Sometimes, all you need is some luck to get to the NBA Finals. Injuries to one team opens the door for others to break through, and the New York Knicks might just be that team, with Cunningham out and Tatum not quite 100 percent. They've had their share of ups and downs, making them not feel like a prototypical title team, but again, luck could be on their side.

The Knicks went 0-3 against the Pistons in the regular season, losing all three by double figures and two of the three by 30+ points. I'm not going to say they're a lock to beat the Pistons in a series without Cunningham given how dominant Detroit has been against New York all year, but again, the door is wide open for them to break through.

Cleveland Cavaliers

There might not be a bigger "winner" to come out of this Cunningham injury than the Cleveland Cavaliers, who, as the current No. 4 seed, were the likely second-round matchup for Detroit this postseason. Now, the Cavs figure to either take on a short-handed Pistons team or a lower-level postseason team in that second round, creating a clear path to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Cavs made an all-in trade by acquiring James Harden at the trade deadline, and while they were not going to be favored over Detroit to win it all, Cunningham's injury makes the idea of Harden finally getting over the top feel much more realistic.

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