No one knows the magnitude of change ahead for the Pistons this off-season, but it’s fair to say they’ll be among the league leaders in personnel turnover. Beyond a young core of six recent lottery picks and two key trade-deadline pickups, roster spots are up for grabs.
That would have been the case even if owner Tom Gores hadn’t announced after the season that the Pistons would add a new head of basketball operations, which could naturally lead to even more change.
The most certain thing about the 2024-25 Pistons, it would seem, is that Cade Cunningham will be at the heart of their planning. Cunningham bounced back from the season-ending shin surgery that limited him to 12 games in year two to fulfill the promise he brought to Detroit as the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft and enters his fourth season on the cusp of All-Star consideration.
A revolving cast of teammates around him forced by first injury and then experimentation as the Pistons suited up an NBA record-tying 31 players created less than ideal conditions, but Cunningham thrived despite the adversity. That included inconsistent 3-point shooting around him and played a significant role in the most obvious chink in Cunningham’s resume: turnovers.
It spoke to Cunningham’s maturity and leadership that he never allowed his frustration to spill over or cause him to point fingers, instead shouldering blame and not dodging accountability. When the season ended, he cited his intent to do more over the off-season to become a more efficient caretaker.
Asked what he intended to focus on over the summer, Cunningham answered, “Definitely my ballhandling. My conditioning, for sure. I would say those are probably my two top priorities. Obviously, my jump shot, my mid-range, finishing at the rim, all those things are going to get worked on, but my conditioning and my ballhandling are probably my top two things I’m going to work on.”
Here’s a look at Cunningham’s past, present and future:
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 after being the No. 1 pick of the 2021 draft and, as such, 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 while shooting .449 overall and .355 from the 3-point arc on 5.4 attempts per game
DID YOU KNOW? When Cunningham came to the Pistons, he was granted permission from the family of Hall of Fame Pistons coach Chuck Daly to wear the No. 2 that was retired in Daly’s honor for the two NBA championships he led the franchise to winning in 1989 and ’90. Cunningham explained to The Athletic that it was the number he’d worn since childhood, including when he played football. Around the Pistons, Cunningham’s nickname is “Deuce.” “It’s something I’ve been wearing since I was a kid,” Cunningham said. “That was my first football number. From then on, I’ve had little nicknames growing up. I have two Cs in my name. There’s been a bunch of different things people call me. From then on, it’s just stuck with me.”
A LOOK BACK: Cunningham grew up near Dallas in Arlington, Texas, and spent his first two seasons of high school there before playing his final two years at Montverde (Fla.) Academy, a national prep powerhouse. Among his teammates there were three others who would become first-round picks in the 2021 draft in which Cunningham went first: Scottie Barnes (fourth), Moses Moody (14th) and Day’Ron Sharpe (29th). Cunningham committed to Oklahoma State, an unconventional choice for the nation’s consensus No. 1-ranked recruit, where his brother, Cannen, served as an assistant coach on Mike Boynton’s staff. Cunningham’s lone college season saw him named first team All-American. He joined Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and Marcus Smart as the only players to be named Big 12 Player of the Year as a freshman. The Pistons made Cunningham the No. 1 pick in a strong draft that also included Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, Barnes, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner and Cunningham overcame an early-season ankle injury to be named first team All-Rookie. His second season ended after just 12 games when he chose to undergo surgery on the advice of medical experts to address a stress fracture of his left shin.
THE SEASON THAT WAS: Cunningham was cleared for full basketball activity in time to have a productive off-season that culminated in him earning an invitation to USA Basketball’s summer camp as part of the Select Team amid reports he turned down the opportunity to be part of the World Cup team to instead focus on ramping up his rehabilitation to be in optimal condition for training camp ahead of his third season. Cunningham was at the heart of the 2-1 start to the Pistons season when a rash of injuries struck and derailed the 2023-24 season. He was playing at an All-Star level in December and into January before suffering a left knee contusion in a Jan. 7 loss at Denver that forced him to miss the next eight games and require vigilant maintenance for the rest of the season before the Pistons shut him down ahead of the season’s final seven games. He went out with a flourish, though, averaging 33.7 points and 5.7 assists over his final three games while hitting 8 of 17 from the 3-point arc. In the 10 games before the January knee injury, Cunningham averaged 28.7 points and 8.1 assists.
A LOOK AHEAD: After nearly a year of being idled and given the incredible churn of players around him – the Pistons and Memphis used an NBA-record 31 players over the course of the 2023-24 season – it was remarkable how well Cunningham managed to navigate the challenges and firmly establish himself as one of the league’s brightest young stars. The next step for Cunningham will be to become less turnover-prone after averaging 3.4 per game, though the burden he was asked to shoulder as not only primary playmaker but high-usage pick-and-roll operator can’t be overstated. Cunningham made notable strides as a 3-point shooter in year three, using his down time with the shin rehabilitation to rework his perimeter shot with an emphasis on increasing its arc. If there were any questions about Cunningham as a lead playmaker coming into the NBA, his work in year three should have eliminated them. The Pistons are likely to undergo significant roster change over an off-season where they hold the No. 5 pick in the draft and have more functional cap space, north of $60 million, than any other NBA franchise, but their decision-making can be streamlined by the certainty that Cunningham is the player around whom their options will be defined.
MONEY QUOTE: “As the season went on, I felt my body started feeling better and better. I was getting my legs under me more. Obviously, my knee was fluctuating; I had good days and bad days. But I feel my body started feeling really better and better. My game, I was turning the ball over like crazy to start the year. I feel like I settled that down a little bit. My shot, I feel like I got it back to a good point. All these things, it’s about consistency. You’re only as good as your last game. I’m excited about this summer. I really am excited about getting back in the gym and sharpening my tools.” – Cade Cunningham after the season