The Pistons will go without their starting forwards the remainder of the season, according to a team press release.
Lottery pick Ausar Thompson is being treated for a blood clot. He has been cleared to resume conditioning and will begin non-contact basketball activities at the conclusion of the regular season with a gradual ramp-up over the summer months. He’s expected to be fully healthy for the start of next season.
Isaiah Stewart suffered a right hamstring strain during the third quarter of Monday’s contest at Boston. He won’t recover in time for the season finale, per the team.
Thompson hasn’t played since March 9. The team had listed him as out due to an unspecified illness in recent contests. The No. 5 pick of last year’s draft was in and out of Monty Williams’ rotation but had received steady playing time since the trade deadline.
Noted for his defensive prowess and athleticism, Thompson averaged 8.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and a team-high 1.1 steals in 25.1 minutes per contest. He appeared in 63 games, including 38 starts. Thompson’s main issue was his perimeter shooting — he made just 18.6% of his 3-point attempts.
Stewart’s season was marred by a three-game league suspension for striking Phoenix’s Drew Eubanks during a pregame altercation prior to the All-Star break. He also missed a chunk of games due to toe and ankle ailments.
Stewart, who received a four-year extension last offseason, started all but one of the 46 games he played this season. He averaged 10.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 30.9 minutes per night. He also displayed a much-improved 3-point shot (38.3%).
How can you hold a player out for an unspecified illness? This is blatant tanking. The league made some good moves this year, but there’s still too much smarmy behavior going around by teams. League needs to investigate this. I also question the legitimacy of the Pistons losing so much. Most teams win one game here and there, even really good teams losing to bad ones. They need to investigate this so it stops happening.
What? Where does it say anything about an unspecified illness? One guy is recovering from a blood clot; the other has hamstring issues. Sounds pretty specific.
The commenter mentioned the “unspecified illness” because it’s stated in the post above that Thompson has been out since 3/9 which the team specified as an unspecified illness, until this point where they’ve now ruled them out because of a blood clot
bro acting like the pistons need help taking lmao
Because “unspecified” doesn’t mean fake.
Unspecified to the public doesn’t mean unspecified to the league.
Top three pick coming ……. Pistons should just trade the pick for Zach ……
Ivey, Wiseman, #1 pick …….
Why would the Pistons tank this year? The draft pool is garbage.
What makes you think they tanked? Maybe they are just not that good.
It can’t be worse than what they have right now!
At this point, why not try to get the highest pick possible?
I hope they heal fast but Stewart might deserve this sit out. Put out PF. Duren(start shooting 3s C. James Wiseman. Simone at SF.
Next year if you are sold on Ivey at SG but if not then next year move Thompson to SG and put Ivey as super sixth man. Draft a SF in the draft along with a PF if Duren at PF doesn’t work. Sign some veterans. Resign Taj Gibson and Ish Smith. Duren, Bam, Tatum at SF, Jalen Green at PG is where everyone should be playing their position. They would all flourish
Get Sarr and Holland
It’s that time of the year. Players on tanking teams find themselves unable to play. It helps both the tankers (draft position) and the non-tankers (who get to pad their win totals). Only the game itself is hurt, and nobody in the NBA cares about that.