Detroit Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham continues to progress from a right ankle sprain and will practice this week with the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.
Pistons head coach Dwane Cade on Friday said Cunningham would not travel with the team on their three-game road trip that started Saturday in Chicago. He will remain in Detroit and continue rehabbing from the injury in an effort to return to play soon.
Cunningham has been participating in various drills with the Pistons in practice and will now scrimmage with the Cruise this week as the team ramps up his rehab, Casey said.
(He’ll) get some time with the G League team and practice with them and get some reps with him. Our practice (on Friday) was good but it wasn’t up and down scrimmaging that he would get with the G League team. I think that is so important and another reason it’s important for us to have our G League team right there in Detroit. The Cruise are three blocks away at Wayne State and that’s what it’s for — for rehab purposes and to grow the young players. It’s serving its purpose for us with our No. 1 pick.
The Pistons began their road trip on Saturday with a loss to the Chicago Bulls, and will face the Atlanta Hawks on Monday and Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. The earliest Cunningham could play is Oct. 30 when the Pistons return home and host the Orlando Magic.
Casey said Cunningham is eager to be cleared to play, something the Pistons’ medical staff are not going to rush. He was still experiencing some soreness with certain moves on the court as of last week and the team is going to ensure he is fully healthy before clearing him to play.
The team has maintained it will not rush Cunningham back into action too quickly. The final call on clearing him to play will come from the medical staff, which could come by the end of the week.
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