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Collapsed lung found in Pistons star G Cade Cunningham

NBA Notebook

All-Star guard Cade Cunningham of the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons has a collapsed left lung and will miss at least two weeks and possibly more, the team announced Thursday.

The exact timeline for a return to play is still unknown. The Pistons said Cunningham would be re-evaluated at the two-week mark.

“Obviously, it’s tough,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in Washington on Thursday before Detroit played the Wizards. “Tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now. How important he is to the team, how important being with his team is to him doesn’t make it easy. He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint.

“Obviously, the talent’s there, but just being around him every single day makes people’s days better.”

Cunningham is averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists for the Pistons, stellar numbers for a club on pace for its best season in nearly two decades. Only eight players in NBA history have finished a season averaging that many points and assists, and Cunningham would be the first to do so in a Detroit uniform.

The regular season ends in less than four weeks. The Pistons — who had listed Cunningham as out for Thursday’s game in Washington with a left back contusion and said Thursday that further testing revealed the lung issue — won’t start their playoff run until April 18 or 19, when the East quarterfinals begin.

Detroit entered Thursday 5-2 in games without Cunningham this season.

“It’s everybody’s responsibility to keep moving forward,” Bickerstaff said. “Head down, 10 toes forward and go to work. And that’s what this team has done all year.”

Cunningham got hurt in Tuesday’s win over Washington, leaving midway through the opening quarter with what the team called back spasms. He dived for a loose ball and collided into Wizards guard Tre Johnson with 7:44 left in the first, then seemed to be laboring until he checked out 1:04 later.

Detroit is 49-19, 3 1/2 games ahead of Boston for the top spot in the East with 14 games remaining. Cunningham has appeared in 61 games this season, so an extended absence could also mean he doesn’t reach the 65-game threshold for eligibility for awards such as the All-NBA team.

Doncic scores 60

MIAMI — Luka Doncic scored 60 points, LeBron James had a triple-double on a night where he tied the NBA record for games played, and the Los Angeles Lakers pushed their season-best winning streak to eight games with a 134-126 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday night.

It tied the second-most points Doncic ever scored in a game, behind a 73-point night against Atlanta in 2024 and matching a 60-point night against New York in 2022. Doncic also broke the record for a Heat opponent, topping the 58-point effort from James Harden for Houston on Feb. 28, 2019.

Doncic — the NBA’s scoring leader — has now scored at least 30 points in eight consecutive games, and reached 50 for the second time in his last five games. James finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and Austin Reaves scored 18 for the Lakers.

Bam Adebayo had 28 points for Miami, which has dropped two straight. Tyler Herro scored 21 points and Norman Powell had 20 for the Heat, which led by as many as 15 in the early going.

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