Detroit's Cade Cunningham, who has already missed eight games with a collapsed lung, will be out another week and be re-evaluated at that time, the Pistons announced Thursday.

This fits with the buzz out of Detroit, which has been that Cunningham will not return during the regular season, but there is optimism he will be back for the playoffs that start April 18.

With the Pistons new timeline, Cunningham will not play in 65 games, missing the league's cutoff to be eligible for postseason awards. Cunningham had been mentioned in MVP conversations, may well have finished in the top five in MVP voting, and unquestionably would have made his first All-NBA team. Now that discretion has been taken out of voters' hands.

Detroit has gone an impressive 6-2 with Cunningham out and with that has kept a solid grip on the No. 1 seed in the East — the Pistons are four games up on the Celtics with six games to play. With that, there is no reason to rush Cunningham back for regular season games, other than the concern about awards.

Cunningham was injured in the first quarter on March 17, a game against the Wizards. Cunningham colliding with Wizards' rookie Tre Johnson diving for a loose ball. He did not return to that game and was soon diagnosed with a left lung pneumothorax."