Pistons star player still out with collapsed lung injury
NBA notebook
DETROIT — All-Star guard Cade Cunningham of the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons will be out at least another week in his recovery from a collapsed left lung.
The Pistons gave an update Thursday saying Cunningham will be re-evaluated in one week. He is working to return to the court being supervised by doctors and Detroit’s medical and performance staff.
Detroit first announced Cunningham’s injury March 19.
Cunningham is averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists for the Pistons. 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 Pistons have clinched the Central Division and have a four-game lead over Boston for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with six games remaining in the regular season. They host Minnesota on Thursday night and start their playoff run either April 18 or 19 when the Eastern quarterfinals begin.
Can’t win it
DETROIT — Anthony Edwards is ineligible for NBA postseason awards because he can’t reach the 65-game minimum after the Minnesota Timberwolves ruled out him out against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night, listing his right knee injury and an illness.
He has played in 59 games, but just 58 count toward the league’s record of games and Minnesota has six games left in the regular season.
Edwards is averaging a career high with 29.3 points per game, but won’t play 70-plus games as he did in each of his first five seasons in the league.
Elsewhere:
n Boston star Jayson Tatum doesn’t know how much longer it’ll take for him to feel like he’s playing basketball at his best level again. Tatum — in only his 12th game back after tearing his Achilles in last season’s playoffs — did something that he’s never done, that no Boston player has done since 2010 and that only two other Celtics have done in the franchise’s illustrious history. His numbers against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night: 25 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists. That’s a monster of a triple-double, and it came with him still looking to regain his top form after not playing for nearly a year.




