The Detroit Pistons have high hopes for the 2025-26 season after making the playoffs this past summer. Along with the continued development of star guard Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, the Pistons were looking forward to the return of young guard Jaden Ivey to the lineup after he missed much of last season after breaking his leg 30 games into the year.
Unfortunately, Ivey’s return to the Pistons’ lineup will be delayed for a few weeks. The team announced on Thursday that the fourth-year guard had a procedure to “relieve right knee discomfort.” The Pistons made clear that the knee issue is unrelated to his broken fibula from last season. Ivey will be re-evaluated in four weeks, which means he’ll likely be out for even longer, meaning the Pistons will probably have to go the first month of the season without his presence in the lineup.
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Detroit’s backcourt will take a different shape this season than what we saw a year ago. Cunningham is back as the leader, but Dennis Schröder is in Sacramento, Tim Hardaway Jr. is in Denver and Malik Beasley is still in limbo amid federal and NBA investigations into gambling allegations.
Ivey was expected to take on a significant role with that trio moving on. While he is recovering from the knee procedure, offseason additions like Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson figure to get even bigger minutes than expected, while Ron Holland and Ausar Thompson might spend some time at the two.
Ivey was in the midst of his best season when he suffered his broken leg, averaging 17.6 points per game and shooting 40.9% from 3-point range. He’ll have to wait a bit longer than he hoped to return to the court to try and pick up where he left off prior to his injury.
