Pistons’ Cunningham reportedly to have season-ending shin surgery

This news is not surprising — Cade Cunningham has missed the Pistons’ last 17 games and reports of him considering surgery were already circulating — but it is a little depressing.

Cunningham will have season-ending surgery on his left shin, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Cunningham, who has been sidelined since Nov. 9, consulted with multiple doctors in recent weeks and ultimately decided with the Pistons and his representatives at Excel Sports to undergo a procedure that’s expected to have him fully recovered ahead of training camp for the 2023-24 season, sources said.

Cunningham reportedly had a stress fracture in his shin that rest did not heal, but surgery ends his season, as Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes noted earlier.

Re: Cade Cunningham: If he is managing a stress fracture of his tibia (shinbone), surgery would likely be season ending. The average time lost for stress-related tibia injuries that require surgery is 61 games.

— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) November 19, 2022

The No.1 overall pick in 2021, Cunningham has an impressive rookie season and started this season hot — 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and six assists a game – until the shin pain forced him to the sidelines.

This could make the Pistons more likely to trade Bojan Bogdanovic and other veterans as they focus on putting themselves in a strong position for a stacked draft next June with Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, Nick Smith, Amen Thompson and more.