For Cade Cunningham, Pistons’ resurgence is just beginning
Cade Cunningham looks to move up a level in the 2025-26 season. And he wants to take his Pistons with him.
Every star of the NBA has a moment, a statement on the most important stage. That stage is often found in one of the league’s most iconic stadiums, Madison Square Garden.
The base of the Detroit Pistons, Cade Cunninghamhe didn’t realize his moment was approaching, but when an errant pass from New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson deflected toward him, the only thing standing between him and that moment was forward Mikal Bridges, who was swooping in to steal the ball. Three seconds and a bounce later, Cunningham found himself at the rim to score two of his 33 points in Detroit’s victory in Game 2 of last season’s playoffs, the team’s first victory. Pistons in the postseason since 2008.
Shortly after that dunk in the third quarter, he met the gaze of the author of his own Garden memories: Carmelo Anthony.
Cunningham he didn’t necessarily need the Hall of Famer’s approval. After all, he had just become an All-Star for the first time and was the driving force that broke the five-season drought of detroit without playoffs, a streak of futility that included a league-record 28 consecutive losses in the first half of the 2023-24 season. But Cunningham he wanted Anthony to know something, while pointing the Knicks legend back.
Here I am. “I didn’t have any celebration in mind or anything, but I was excited. Carmelo Anthony was right in front of me,” he said. Cunningham to AM850 earlier this month. “One of my favorite players of all time. I wanted to make sure he saw it.”
“Being in the arena, the biggest stage in the world. I thought it was a cool moment.”
Little by little, Cunninghamthe first pick in the 2021 draft, has been finding more moments like this. He recorded his game-winning goal against the Atlanta Hawks last November, capped off with a help-side block at the buzzer. He also hit his three-pointer against the clock on the road against the Miami Heat in March, when he turned to center Bam Adebayo before making a basket and told the Miami fans to give him some “respect.”
At 24 years old, Cunningham remains one of the youngest members of a team of the Pistons built around their star and on the rise in an open Eastern Conference. But any possibility that detroit Whether he evolves from a rookie to a true contender will depend on how far the dynamic 6’6″ point guard can take his game. Will that require an MVP-worthy season in Motown? Cunningham, for his part, doesn’t shy away from the idea. “If I can help this team reach my goal this season, this will all be on the way,” he said. Cunningham. “I’m not ashamed to say it. I think it’s very possible.”
CUNNINGHAM He was a finalist for Most Improved Player last season, but seemed a little out of place.
Since the creation of that award in 1986, only Milwaukee Bucks center Giannis Antetokounmpo, in 2017, ended up being MVP. Most Improved Player award winners have traditionally been lottery picks, who have gone from underachievers to major contributors or little-known players who have enjoyed a breakout season.
However, Cunningham He wasn’t exactly excited about joining those ranks.
“I think it was a great honor to be considered for Most Improved Player,” he said. Cunningham about the award received by Dyson Daniels of the Hawks. “It shows who improved the most year after year. It says a lot about how much effort you put in.”
“But I consider myself someone who should be at the highest level, and that’s what I work for every day. It didn’t break my heart not to win.”
Nor was he irritated when the previous MVPs were named: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Antetokounmpo, being fully aware of the inference. Cunningham he would be the youngest MVP since Derrick Rose in 2011, and the first No. 1 to win since LeBron James in 2013. He finished seventh in the final MVP voting last season.
Cunningham knows the commonality is team success combined with individual statistics. Not counting the pandemic-shortened seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the teams of the last six MVP winners average 58.6 wins. For the Pistonswhose 44 wins last season already tied the franchise’s most since 2007-08, Cunningham it would take another big leap to get there. And that would mean that the Pistons they would become real contenders, not just ascending teams.
“Winning Finals MVP would make me a lot happier than winning an MVP,” he said. Cunningham. “Basketball is a team game. To be the MVP, you have to be valuable to your team. And that can manifest itself in many different ways. If you are the best player in the world, you will probably have the best team in the world.”
TO Cannen Cunninghambrother eight years older than cadeit’s no surprise that MVP is on Cade’s aspiration list. Remember that cade He said he wanted to be the first pick in the draft and, later, that he wanted to be the best player in the world.
“He’s not arrogant or anything like that,” Cannen said. “He just believes in himself.”
This has benefited the franchise to date.
The Pistons have invested a lot in Cunninghamfar exceeding the maximum rookie extension (five years and $269 million) he agreed to in the summer of 2024. For team owner Tom Gores, the qualities he saw in Cunningham during the organization’s record losing streak in the 2023-24 season only reinforced that decision.
“When we were at our worst, he didn’t blink an eye,” Gores told AM850. He continued working, continued congratulating his players. That’s when I knew this boy’s character was special.
“With any person in life, you learn the most in difficult times. The way I saw him function, (behave) when things were difficult, what he did when we were bad.”
Cunningham shined last season, thanks in part to the structure created by team president Trajan Langdon and coach JB Bickerstaff. The space between players had been affected in the first two seasons of Cunninghamso the priority was to sign shooters Tim Hardaway Jr. (168 triples) and Malik Beasley (319) to operate while Cunningham dominated the defense.
But after just one season together, Hardaway signed with the Denver Nuggets last offseason and Beasley is currently under federal investigation for alleged gambling. detroit wasted no time in finding a replacement this summer, acquiring forward Duncan Robinson in a sign-and-trade with Miami on the first day of free agency.
Jalen Duren is a long-range threat who vacations and trains with Cunningham during the preseason, and that connection seems intact. Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland are pests on defense and can go out into the open (and Thompson has developed as a secondary player, allowing Cunningham play more without the ball).
He and his companions are of a similar age. He’s a few months older than Jaden Ivey, a few months younger than the oldest player in the PistonsIsaiah Stewart, and two years older than Duren and Thompson.
“We had a (team) event and the next day was his birthday,” Tobias Harris, the team’s oldest player, told AM850. detroit at 33 years old. “I asked him how old he was and he said 24. In my mind, I thought he was 28. He’s very mature, and that shows on the court with his leadership. He has that energy, that competitive spirit, but he’s also very dedicated to work.”
Throughout the staff, everyone coincides without conflict in the hierarchy, with Cunningham at the top.
“It’s a heavy burden, and it’s a burden you don’t get days off from,” Bickerstaff told AM850. “When you’re like that, you can’t take days off. Because every day, everyone around you is watching you.”
THE LASTING IMAGE from the season finale reveal detroit? The desolation, after Brunson liquidated the Pistons on their home court in the first round, preventing what would have been an electrifying seventh game at Madison Square Garden. Bickerstaff won’t see it, the memory is etched in his mind. Cunningham He will catch it in spurts.
“I saw him a couple of times,” he said. Cunningham. “There are times where I fast forward when I know it’s something I don’t want to see, but I think that’s just part of the learning.” Insensitivities form the character of the team and its leader.
“Even teams that have made big deals to sign superstar players, you know, they have to go through some things,” Bickerstaff said. “To learn, to find that extra motivation to understand the importance of everything, the details. When you lose a game like that in the playoffs, it hurts even more.”
The Pistons They have only had two coaches who have lasted more than four seasons in franchise history (Chuck Daly and Dwane Casey). For Bickerstaff to join that short list, his relationship with Cunningham It must be perfect, similar to the one Gilgeous-Alexander has in Oklahoma City with Mark Daigneault or the one Stephen Curry has enjoyed for a decade with Steve Kerr.
“Build trust, build respect,” Bickerstaff said. “Our words have to be the same, our emotions have to be the same, our commitments have to be the same so that we both get to where we want to go.
“But beyond that, he’s such a good guy that you want to have a relationship with him. That goes beyond basketball, and that’s what I try to build with him.
Last summer, Bickerstaff challenged his star to prepare for more physicality from defenses, almost predicting what the start of this season would look like. In fact, the defenses have trapped Cunningham frequently during the first week of the season, and the intensity has increased. (Cunningham He now sports a welt under his right eye, courtesy of the hit one of the Celtics centers received in the comeback of the Celtics’ first home game. Pistons).
“Efficiency” has become the next objective of Cunninghamaccording to Bickerstaff. “The Carmelo Anthonys, the Kevin Durants of the world, have such fast movements that double-teams can’t catch up with them, because in playoff situations you will see more fans, more double-teams.”
Cunningham He also believes he has the size and experience to defend some of the league’s best. Bickerstaff also wants Cunningham. A team in top shape.
Expectations are high, but they don’t seem impossible on a team on the rise, in a conference that demands a team that challenges the Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“You’re not included in the MVP conversation if your team doesn’t win at a high level, and that’s what’s important to him,” Bickerstaff said. “Everyone knows he’s a superstar. Once you elevate an organization to that level, that’s when they start putting you in the MVP category.”
