The Detroit Pistons, led by Cade Cunningham, have officially let the NBA know they’re not to be taken lightly.
The team is currently eight games above .500, a far cry from last year’s horrid 14-68 season, and one of the biggest reasons is the growth of rising star, Cade Cunningham.
Detroit recently beat the Miami Heat on a game-winning three-pointer by Cunningham, and are on a two-game win streak with the Dallas Mavericks up next.
This season, Cunningham is averaging 25.6 points per game along with 9.3 assists and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 46% from the field and 35% for the three-point line.
If the young star continues this type of dominance throughout the rest of the season, he will definitely be in the running for the most improved player of the year.
The former Oklahoma State star was the first pick in the 2021 draft class, and he entered the draft with loads of potential.
In his rookie season, he averaged 17.4 ppg, 5.6 apg and 5.5 rpg. In each of the three subsequent seasons, he’s increased his scoring and assists totals. And this year, year four, he’s displayed the talent the Pistons knew he had when they drafted him.
However, in his first three seasons, the team went 23-59, 17-65 and 14-68.
But because of his play this season, the Pistons are currently the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and in the playoffs.
If they make it to the postseason, which they should, it will be the first time Detroit has made the playoffs since the 2018-2019 season, where they were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks.
They are currently 39-31 and could secure both their first playoff appearance and their first winning season, which both last happened in the 2018-19 season where they went 41-41.
If the playoffs started today the Pistons would draw the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, and many feel that it’s a matchup the Pistons could actually win, especially with Jalen Brunson being banged up.
The Pistons are built around Cunningham, and they will go as far as he can carry them.
So far, he’s brought them to a winning record and a playoff birth for the first time this decade.
It will be interesting to see how the Pistons finish off the rest of the regular season and step into the postseason.
And that will be determined their future superstar, Cade Cunningham.
