Every NBA star has a moment, a statement on the biggest stage. This stage often takes place in one of the league's most iconic arenas, Madison Square Garden.
Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham didn't realize his the moment came, but when the lost one passed by New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson started down his path, the only thing standing between him and that moment was the swingman Mikal Bridges impending theft. Three seconds and one behind-the-back dribble later, Cunningham found himself at the rim and scored two of his 33 points in Detroit's second game of the playoffs last season, the Pistons' first postseason victory since 2008.
Shortly after that third-quarter dunk, he locked eyes with the author of his Garden memories: Carmelo Anthony.
Cunningham didn't necessarily need the Hall of Fame's endorsement. After all, he was just a first-time All-Star and a driving force in breaking Detroit's five-season playoff drought, a stretch of futility that included a league-record 28 straight losses in the first half of the 2023-24 season. But Cunningham wanted Anthony to know something because he pointed out the Knicks legend on the way back.
Here I am.
“I didn’t mean it as a celebration or anything, but I was thrilled. Carmelo Anthony is right in front of me,” Cunningham told ESPN earlier this month. “One of my favorite players. 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, Cunningham, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, found more of those moments. There was his game winner against Atlanta Hawks in November last year, punctuated by blocking the buzzer from the assistance side. There was his amazing three-pointer on the road against Miami Heat in March, when he walked through the center Bam Adebayo before throwing a punch and asked the Miami crowd to show a little “respect” to his name.
At 24, Cunningham is still one of the youngest members of a Pistons team built around its star and on the rise in a wide-open Eastern Conference. But any chance Detroit has at going from upstart to true contender will depend on how far its dynamic 6-foot-6 guard can take his game. Will it require an MVP-caliber season at Motown? Cunningham, for his part, doesn't shy away from the idea.
“If I can help this team get to where my goal is to get them this season, that’s all on the way,” Cunningham said. “I'm not embarrassed to say this. I think it's quite possible.”
CUNNINGHAM WAS finalist for last season's Most Improved Player, but it seemed a little out of place.
Since the establishment of the prize in 1986, only Milwaukee Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2017 he became MVP. Most improved winners have traditionally been lottery players who have gone from losers to major players or under-the-radar players enjoying a breakout season.
Cunningham, however, was not very keen to join these ranks.
“I think Most Improved Player is a great honor,” Cunningham said of the Hawks' honor. Dyson Daniels. “It shows who has improved the most year on year. It says a lot about how much work you put in.”
“[But] I consider myself a person who should be considered at the highest level and that is what I work for every day. I wasn't heartbroken that I didn't win.”
He also didn't get angry when several past MVPs were named. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Joel EmbiidAntetokounmpo is fully aware of the conclusion drawn. Cunningham will be the youngest MVP since Derrick Rose in 2011 and the first No. 1 to win since then. LeBron James in 2013. He finished seventh in the final MVP voting last season.
Cunningham knows the common thread is team success coupled with individual statistics. Excluding the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, the last six MVP-winning teams averaged 58.6 wins. For the Pistons, whose 44 wins last season already tied the franchise's most since 2007-08, Cunningham will need another huge leap to reach that goal. This will mean that the Pistons will become real contenders and not just upstarts.
“[Winning] Finals MVP, I would be happier with that than MVP,” Cunningham said. “Basketball is a team game. To become an MVP, you must be valuable to your team. And it can look different. If you're the best player in the world, you'll probably have the best team in the world.”
Cannen Cunningham, Cade's older brother by eight years, isn't surprised MVP is on Cade's list of aspirations. He remembers Cade saying he wanted to be the No. 1 pick, and later that he wanted to be the best player in the world.
“He's not cocky or anything,” Cannen said. “He just believes in himself.”
This has benefited the franchise to date.
The Pistons invested heavily in Cunningham, going well beyond the maximum rookie extension (five years, $269 million) he agreed in the summer of 2024. For team owner Tom Gores, the qualities he saw in Cunningham during the organization's record losing streak in 2023-24 only solidified that decision.
“When we were at our lowest, the man didn't even blink,” Gores told ESPN. “He kept working, kept patting his players on the back. That’s when I realized this guy’s character was special.”
“The hard times in life are where you learn the most from anyone. The way I saw him act [behaving] when everything was emotional, what he did when we were depressed.”
Cunningham thrived last season, thanks in part to the structure put in place by team president Trajan Langdon and coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Cap space was tight in Cunningham's first couple of seasons, so signing shooters was a priority. Tim Hardaway Jr.. (168, 3) and Malik Beasley (319) operated while Cunningham commanded the defense's attention.
But after just one season, Hardaway signed with Denver Nuggets last offseason, and Beasley is currently under federal investigation for gambling charges and being unlisted. This summer, Detroit wasted no time in finding a replacement, acquiring a sharp-shooting forward. Duncan Robinson V sign and trade with Miami on the first day of free agency.
Meanwhile, the Pistons' young core complements their point guard in different ways.
Jalen Duren is a dangerous player who spends the offseason resting and training with Cunningham, and that connection appears intact. Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland are pests on defense and can go to the open floor. (And Thompson has become a secondary playmaker, allowing Cunningham to play more off the ball.)
He and his teammates are close in age. He's a few months older Jayden Iveyseveral months younger than the longest running Piston, Isaiah Stewartand two years older than Duren and Thompson.
“We had [team] event, and the next day was his birthday,” Tobias HarrisDetroit's oldest player, 33, told ESPN. “I asked him how old he was and he said 24. In my opinion, I thought he was 28. He's just so mature and that means he knows how to lead. He has a dog, this competitive spirit, but he is also very passionate about this – work.”
At the top and bottom of the list, everyone unanimously agrees on the hierarchy, with Cunningham at the top.
“It's a heavy burden, and there's no getting away from it,” Bickerstaff told ESPN. “When you’re a guy like that, you don’t have days off. Because everyone is watching every single day.”
LONG IMAGE since the end of Detroit's breakout season? Heartbreak: Brunson shut out the Pistons at their home stadium in the first round, preventing what could have been an electric Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. Bickerstaff won't watch it, the memories are seared into his mind. Cunningham will catch it with jerks.
“I’ve watched it a couple times,” Cunningham said. “There are times when I fast forward when I know it’s something I don’t want to see, but I think it’s just part of the learning experience.”
Calluses shape the character of the team and its leader.
“You know, even teams that have made big deals to bring in superstars, they have to go through some pain,” Bickerstaff said. “To study, to find additional motivation, to understand the importance of everything, the details. When you lose a game like that in the playoffs, it burns even more.”
In franchise history, the Pistons have only had two coaches last longer than four seasons (Chuck Daly, Dwane Casey). For Bickerstaff to join that short list, his relationship with Cunningham would have to be on point – not too different from what Gilgeous-Alexander had in Oklahoma City with Mark Deino or someone else. Stephen Curry enjoyed for ten years with Steve Kerr.
“Build trust, build respect,” Bickerstaff said. “Our words must be the same, our emotions must be the same, our commitments must be the same so that we can both achieve what we want.
“But other than that, he’s such a good dude that you want to be in a relationship with him. It's bigger than basketball and that's what I'm trying to build with him.”
Last summer, Bickerstaff challenged his star to prepare to be more physical on defense, all but predicting what the start of this season would look like. The defense did trap Cunningham often during the first week of the season, and the intensity of the game increased. (Cunningham now has a welt under his right eye from being hit by one of the Celtics' big men in the Pistons' home opener comeback win).
According to Bickerstaff, Cunningham's next goal was “efficiency.” “Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durants of the world, you move pretty fast. [that] double teams can't get there because in playoff situations you'll see more people, more double teams.”
Cunningham also believes he has the size and know-how to protect the league's best players. Bickerstaff also wants Cunningham to be in elite shape.
Expectations are high, but they don't seem impossible for an increasingly popular team in a conference that requires a team to challenge the Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
“You don't get included in the MVP conversation unless your team is winning at a high level, and that's important to him,” Bickerstaff said. “Everyone knows he's a superstar. Once you raise the organization [to] such a high level, that’s when you start to be considered an MVP.”
