Cade Cunningham out, Gabriele Procida in for Detroit Pistons’ Summer League games?

Detroit Bad Boys

The Detroit Pistons kick off Summer League actions in about 12 hours with a midnight opening of the Las Vegas Summer League. The Pistons roster and Summer League plans continue to take shape, and the latest information we have seems to indicate that while Cade Cunningham will be on the roster, he will not see the floor. There were also some lingering questions about whether overseas second-round pick Gabriele Procida would see Summer League action, and all signs point to him being on the roster and able to play.

The Pistons already announced a 19-person Summer League roster, and it surprisingly included all the members of Detroit’s young core including former No. 1 overall pick Cunningham. Joining Cade are veterans Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart, Killian Hayes, Saben Lee and Isaiah Livers, but there was an open question whether the plan was for those vets to get floor time or as more of a symbolic gesture on the importance of the young core bonding with the team’s new rookies Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.

While we don’t have definitive word on all the vets, it appears that there are no plans for Cade (who wears No. 2) to actually suit up. Cunningham’s cousin and trainer seemed to indicate as much on Twitter.

It’s not a surprise to see a former No. 1 overall pick bow out after just one Summer League. The rest of the roster is a bit more complicated. It typically doesn’t make sense for third-year players to play, but Isaiah Stewart has never played in any Summer League as he was recovering from injury last year and COVID forced the cancellation of Summer League his rookie year. Hayes, meanwhile, has struggled enough in his NBA career that you might want to get him legitimate minutes, Saben Lee’s future minutes are not ensured so he could want to play to show his skills to other teams, and Saddiq Bey never misses a game.

My hunch would be that the Pistons will treat the entire group of veterans the same so if Cade isn’t playing, I don’t think any of them will play. But we shall see. However, two players picked last year are likely to play in last year’s second-round picks Isaiah Livers and Balsa Koprivica.

Of course, we can also use social media to unearth some good news about the roster, and that is that Procida looks like he’s in Vegas and will be ready to play and practice with his new Pistons teammates.

Our friends at @PistonsBrasil_ noted on Twitter that Procida had posted a pic from a plane over Las Vegas to his private Instagram account.

So even if the veterans don’t play, that just means more minutes, responsibility and shots for the newest crop of Pistons and large helpings of Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren and Gabriele Procida.

Procida and Duren cannot yet be listed on the official Summer League roster until the draft day trade that netted Detroit both selections is made official. The trade can be made official today so those announcements could come at any time.

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