Pistons Season Rewind: Cade Cunningham Shines Bright Amid Adversity
The only thing that is for sure about the Pistons heading into next season 2024-25 is that Cade Cunningham will be at the center of their strategy. Cunningham recovered his rookie season when he was only able to play 12 games due to shin surgery that ended his season early. He has lived up to expectations he made as a rookie coming into Detroit as the first overall draft in 2021 and is heading into his fourth year of play dreaming of the All-Star.
A constantly shifting group of teammates around him due to injuries and coaching decisions certainly did not help him out. However, Cade Cunningham was never idle and stood a good chance of excelling in the tests due to hard work and great chances of overcoming the odds due to his hard work and determination. Still, the player was effective in maintaining his composure and his ability to keep anger and blame out of the situation demonstrated his maturity and leadership. However, he assumed the necessary blame and did not shirk legal responsibility.
At the end of the season, Cade Cunningham expressed his further plans to accomplish more in the off-season to be a more effective manager. When asked what he wanted to improve on during the summer, this is what Cunningham had to say, “Definitely, my ballhandling. My conditioning, for sure. I would say those are probably my two top priorities. Of course, my jump shot, my mid-range, completing close in, all of that will also be worked on, but my ballhandling and my conditioning are probably the two most important things I look forward to working on,”
Profile and Stats
Profile: 6-foot-6 guard, 22 years old, 3 NBA seasons
Status: Cunningham is entering the final season of his four-year, rookie-scale contract. He will be eligible to sign a four-year contract extension this summer that will take him through the 2028-29 season.
2023-24 Stats: 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 33.5 minutes per game over 62 games, shooting .449 overall and .355 from the 3-point arc on 5.4 attempts per game.
Cade Cunningham highlights Troy Weaver is fired: Day 4
1/3/2024 vs Utah
31 points
13 assists
5 rebounds57% FG, 43% 3pt, 80% FT#DetroitBasketball pic.twitter.com/PVi7ub5eNr
— nick (@nick__xo) May 28, 2024
Cade Cunningham’s Background
When Cade Cunningham signed for the Pistons he was allowed to wear the number 2 jersey which had been recognized in honour of Pistons legend and Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly. Cade Cunningham said he chose the number on his back because he has been using it since he was young. Montverde Academy is a national prep school in which Cade Cunningham completed his last two years of high school, he was raised in Arlington, Texas but close to Dallas. He recommended to Oklahoma State, which his brother was the assistant coach at the time.
Cade Cunningham was cleared to practice fully for basketball heading into the off-season and thus benefit. He got a chance to be with the USA Basketball Select Team in the summer camp that the team organizes. He wished to escalate his workouts to be fit for the third season of the season as a player. Cunningham was the Pistons’ catalyst to a 2-1 beginning of the season before a string of injuries happened. Although a left knee contusion in January meant his condition needed careful monitoring he was in fine form, averaging 33.7 points and 5.7 assists.
It was rather remarkable how Cade Cunningham was able to stay the course since the roster around him kept on changing. The next step for him is to reduce the turnover rate even more, which could be a considerable challenge given the expectations of him as a playmaker. Cunningham proved to be much more potent from the outside in his second season, as he reimagined his shot during his time on the injured shin. Since the Pistons have made massive changes, their actions will be less likely to be affected by the question of whether Cunningham is the correct pick for the team’s future.