The Detroit Pistons star added another piece of hardware to his trophy case on Tuesday
In a regular season that’s been far from bereft with accomplishments for the Detroit Pistons, their star point guard, Cade Cunningham, just added another distinction to his quickly-growing list of accolades.
For the second time in the 2025-26 regular season, Cunningham was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month while leading the Pistons to a 9-2 record in the month of February. During that stretch, Cunningham posted nightly averages of 25.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 9.9 assists per game over a period where Detroit compiled the top record in the Eastern Conference.
In his first game outside of the February judgment period for the POTM award, Cunningham posted his 33rd double-double of the season with 29 points, six rebounds and 11 assists on the road against the Orlando Magic on Sunday to carry his hot streak into a new month.
After Detroit’s 14-point win over the Magic, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was asked to characterize how impactful his All-Star point guard has been for the Pistons during their rise to first place in the Eastern Conference.
“The basketball skills speak for themselves,” Bickerstaff said. “There’s nothing on the floor that he can’t do, both ends of the floor. He can score it. He can share it. He can manipulate. He can get stops. He can block shots. He gets steals. Whatever you want him to do on the basketball court, he’s capable of, and it’s not hollow, right? Everything he does is with winning in mind.”
As of late, Cunningham has jettisoned himself squarely into the league’s MVP discussions as a byproduct of his production combined with the Pistons’ virtually season-long stranglehold on the top seed in the East. But in terms of the MVP race, Cunningham is most often positioned against the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Jaylen Brown, and for good reason. Jokic is the only player of that group outside the top 20 for usage rate, which speaks to just how much the Pistons have relied on Cunningham throughout the year.
Time and time again, Cunningham has proven to those around him that he can be trusted to deliver– on and off the court.
“He’s special, and I’ll get to the basketball part of it next, but he’s special because of the type of person that he is,” Bickerstaff said. “He’s special because of the type of teammate he is. He’s special because of the type of leader he is. I can’t say enough about his parents and the way they brought him up and just helped rear him into the human being that he is. He’s a blessing to be with and work with every single day first and foremost.”
Cunningham has earned the respect of his peers inside the Pistons locker room, and Tuesday’s award is a sign that he’s earning the same degree of respect on a league-wide level as well since he's the only player in the NBA to win the award twice during the 2025-26 campaign.
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