Jaden Ivey.
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesDetroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey suffered such a horrific leg injury on Wednesday, January 1, that his teammates made sure to hide it from the fans in attendance.
In the fourth quarter of the Pistons’ game against the Orlando Magic at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, Ivey’s left leg, 22, got stuck under the Magic’s. Cole Anthony while both players were chasing a loose ball.
Ivey was immediately in absolute agony on the floor as he was attended to by the Pistons medical staff. Eventually, one of Ivey’s teammates grabbed a towel from the bench to cover his leg and the rest of the team formed a circle around him.
A stretcher was used to carry Ivey off the field as the arena watched in hushed silence. Ivey’s teammate, Ausar Thompsonis seen wiping away tears.
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Sources told ESPN on Thursday, Jan. 2 that Ivey suffered a fractured fibula in his left foot and will likely miss the remainder of the season.
“It is difficult. It’s hard for all of us,” the Pistons coach said JB Bickerstaff he said after the match. “There is no teammate, no better person than JI. No one cares more about this than he does. It’s hard to see.”
Bickerstaff, 45, added: “At the heart of this team and what we’ve tried to preach all year since we’ve been here is togetherness. If one guy goes down, you don’t want to let that guy down, so everybody else has to step up. Again, it’s the emotions, it’s the human aspect of it, but I thought our guys did a really good job of sticking together and doing it.”
The star of the pistons Cade Cunningham said Ivey’s injury was “tough on the whole group.”
“Seeing him hurt like that is hard for us,” Cunningham, 23, told reporters. “He’s built for it, he’s going to rock knowing it. He will work his tail off and be better than ever when he comes back. It’s hard to see that, for sure.”
After the injury occurred, Cunningham explained that he gathered the team for “a prayer.”
“I just wanted to get ourselves together and talk about it and make sure everybody was on the same page about what we needed to do from that point on,” Cunningham said.
Ivey, who was selected by the Pistons with the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, averaged 17.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
The Pistons return to action on Friday, January 3 against the Charlotte Hornets.
