Cade Cunningham Out with Collapsed Lung: Fantasy Basketball Fallout

Another NBA star player is out with an injury - it just never ends.

Let's discuss what Cade Cunningham's injury means for fantasy basketball owners and the Detroit Pistons in the real world.

Fantasy basketball injury news can be tracked all season on FantasySP.

The Injury and Some Stats

Cunningham has a collapsed lung and will miss “extended” time, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. He was on the injury report with a back injury, but it's clearly more serious than that.

We don't know the exact timeline for Cunningham, but this is a very concerning injury for him and his fantasy owners.

The 24-year-old is shining in his fifth NBA season. Over 61 games, Cunningham has averaged 24.5 points, 9.9 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.9 blocks over 34.4 minutes a night.

Cunningham is shooting 46.1% overall and 34.6% from 3-point land. He gets up 18.9 shot attempts per game, with 5.8 attempts being from behind the 3-point arc.

He's scored in double figures in all but two games this season. Cunningham has 20 or more points in all but 17 games. He has over 30 points on 13 occasions and has scored over 40 points three times.

Cunningham has five or more boards in 37 games, with six contests over 10 boards. He has five or more assists in all but two contests, with 35 games with 10 or more assists. Cunningham has 37 double-doubles and three triple-doubles on the year.

He also has a steal in all but 17 games and at least one block in 33 contests.

His absence will be huge for the Pistons and for fantasy basketball owners.

Outlook for Cunningham

Not knowing Cunningham's outlook makes this whole situation murky. This seems like the type of injury that could derail his regular season, or really hamper it at the very least.

In time, we should have a timeline for Cunningham, and at that point, we can decide exactly what to do with him. The Pistons are hoping to have him for the postseason, but he could miss a bunch of the remaining regular season games, which erases his fantasy value.

If he is eventually ruled out for weeks, or for the regular season, Cunningham will be droppable, which really hurts to say. If he's not playing though, there's no use in rostering him in redraft fantasy leagues.

Hopefully this doesn't turn into a long-term issue with Cunningham. He only has one other season that was really hampered by injuries, and has been over 60 games played in his four other seasons.

Fantasy owners with an IR spot to utilize should stash Cunningham in that spot for now. Wait until we get word on his return timetable before you drop him from your squad.

Obviously, Cunningham needs to be held in dynasty/keeper leagues. Hopefully you have an IR spot to stash him in there, because otherwise he's just clogging up a spot on your bench. He's definitely too talented to drop in dynasty/keeper leagues though.

Outlook for the Pistons

Daniss Jenkins was the top waiver wire option I discussed in today's story, but more Pistons should be on the rise after the injury news was released for Cunningham.

Jenkins is rostered in just 15% of leagues right now, so we'll see what percentage he soars too now that Cunningham is going to miss extended time.

Duncan Robinson (30% owned), Kevin Huerter (12%) and Javonte Green (3%) are some other Detroit guards who could get a boost after the Cunningham injury.

Tobias Harris (76%) is the top-owned forward in Detroit. Isaiah Stewart (23%) is next, but is battling an injury himself.

Paul Reed (7%), Ron Holland II (7%) and Caris LeVert (4%) are some other forwards who could take on more with Cunningham out of the picture for a while.

Jalen Duren is the only other Piston owned in 100% of fantasy leagues. His value should rise as well, as there's a ton of production that needs to be covered with Cunningham out now.

As for who I like adding in fantasy leagues, Jenkins is the top guy among the guards. Robinson is another one I wouldn't mind adding, but he's likely to top out as a deep-league asset. 

Huerter and Green are options in deeper fantasy leagues, and by deep, I mean really deep. They could work into more leagues with improved production though, and that's doable with Cunningham now out.

Harris is another guy I'd like to add after Cunningham's injury. He's already a pretty good asset, and should produce more now. At least add and utilize Harris until Stewart is back in the mix.

Speaking of, Stewart will be a good waiver pickup when he's cleared to play again. So be watching his status closely.

Reed, Holland and LeVert need to be monitored, but they are more likely just deep-league options. Duren will power the Pistons in the paint, but if he's out, guys like Stewart and Reed could do more.

This could be a very fluid situation, and we will do our best to keep you on top of the best adds/drops over the days/weeks to come.

As for the real world, the Pistons are in a good spot being 3.5 games ahead of anyone for that No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. If Cunningham misses the rest of the regular season though, Detroit could lose that top spot, so we'll see if the Celtics or Knicks can overtake the Pistons.