No matter how thoroughly a general manager vets the pool of candidates when considering how to exercise the NBA draft’s No. 1 pick, there is no chance to exhale a sigh of relief until the evidence comes in.
For as meaningless as Summer League performances have been proven to be over time, an organization holds its collective breath when it watches a lottery pick first go through his paces. That continues through training camp, preseason and beyond.
The Pistons selected Cade Cunningham with conviction last July when the lottery bestowed the No. 1 pick on them. But when a preseason ankle injury forced Cunningham to miss a month of his orientation process, his introduction to the NBA was made even more challenging. But things got better in a hurry from there.
Here's a look at Cunningham’s past, present and future:
PROFILE: 6-foot-7 guard, 20 years old, 1 NBA season
2021-22 STATS: 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists on .416 shooting and .314 3-point shooting in 32.6 minutes a game
STATUS: Cunningham has three years remaining on the rookie scale contract he signed after being drafted first overall by the Pistons last summer
DID YOU KNOW?: Cade Cunningham’s older brother, Cannen, played at Southern Methodist for one year under Matt Doherty and the final three years under ex-Pistons and Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. After playing professionally in Europe, Cannen Cunningham went into coaching and wound up on staff at Oklahoma State – one major reason why Cade Cunningham chose the Cowboys over offers from every powerhouse program in the country.
A LOOK BACK: Cunningham was born and raised in Arlington, Texas, and spent his first two years of high school playing basketball there before transferring to Montverde (Fla.) Prep for his final two seasons. On a loaded roster that included three other 2021 first-round picks – Scottie Barnes, Moses Moody and Day’Ron Sharpe – plus several highly regarded younger prospects, Cunningham was the acknowledged leader and star. Cunningham also starred for USA Basketball in leading the U19 team to the World Cup gold medal in Greece. In the championship game, Cunningham finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Americans finished the tournament with a 7-0 record. Cunningham was named the national 2020 Naismith High School Player of the Year. In his one season at Oklahoma State, Cunningham averaged 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists to carry an undermanned team to a 21-9 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament. He was named first team All-American and was both Big 12 freshman and player of the year, joining Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and Marcus Smart in winning those honors.
THE SEASON THAT WAS: Cunningham sprained an ankle in the first week of training camp and missed all of preseason and the first four games – and five of the first six – of the regular season as he rehabilitated. That compounded the challenge of having the onus of being a rookie playmaker thrust upon him and Cunningham understandably got off to a wobbly start. Cunningham, in fact, missed his first 18 3-point shots before finding his footing. Even as that process was unfolding, Cunningham displayed his ability to rise to the moment. In his fifth game, Cunningham led a Nov. 10 win at Houston – before a crowd looking for validation that No. 2 pick Jalen Green was the better player – by making several clutch plays in the closing minutes. He wound up matching or surpassing a number of statistical milestones for Pistons rookies that put him in the company of Isiah Thomas and Grant Hill. In 20 games after the All-Star break, Cunningham averaged 21.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.5 assists. Cunningham led all NBA rookies in both scoring and assists. Cunningham, despite the early injury and the slow start it engendered, finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley, who benefited from playing for teams that reached the postseason.
A LOOK AHEAD: Cunningham established himself as a bona fide lead playmaker as a rookie and will build off of that very lofty floor as he gains strength and experience. Turnovers were the biggest negative on Cunningham’s resume, but that was part of a creative player pushing the boundaries of possibility and learning opposing personnel and the speed and rhythm of the NBA game in general. The full expectation is that Cunningham will be a more able caretaker of the basketball next year and into the future. Improvement over his 31.4 percent 3-point shooting is a near certainty, as well, as Cunningham benefits from a full off-season regimen of strength training and player development. Cunningham established himself as a leader for the Pistons despite being the youngest player on a very young roster and that, too, will only be enhanced as he further establishes his credentials. “This is Cade’s room. That’s what we need from him,” teammate Kelly Olynyk, one of only three 30-year-olds on the team, said as the season ended. “As a point guard, as a leader, as the future of Detroit and the Pistons, that’s what he’s got to do and he wants to do it. The quicker he can get to that, the better.”
MONEY QUOTE: “He’s Rookie of the Year. It’s not even close as far as talent evaluation. I’ve been in it a long time, seen a lot of players. The only thing they can hold against us is a young team rebuilding. But talent-wise, he’s the guy that can finish games for you and that’s what you need in those situations is to finish games.” – Dwane Casey in March