Detroit Pistons star PG Cade Cunningham is on the cusp of superstar status

Entering his fifth NBA season, Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham is on the doorstep of becoming one of the elite players at his position across the league. Last year, Cunningham was named to the All-NBA third team, but he’s looking to build on that success after finally getting a taste of the postseason. 

From a metrics perspective, Cunningham spread out his far-reaching impact with 26.1 points, 9.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game last season as he grew into his role as the team’s go-to player in terms of leadership. Cunningham left his imprint across each of the 70 games he featured in during the 2024-25 campaign, but he could reach the upper echelon as the top point guard in the Eastern Conference with another year of experience under his belt. 

As Detroit’s main ball-handler, Cunningham set the pace of play for the Pistons all year long and was relied upon to not only set up and guide the team’s offense but to score at a high level while doing so. This is a difficult task to keep up all year long, but Cunningham found a way to ramp up his impact in the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Knicks as well.

“He was elite,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after Detroit’s game two win over the Knicks. “He is a superstar, and he played the game tonight as a superstar. He did what he needed to do to help this team win. He understood, you know, how aggressive he needed to be on the offensive end of the floor. So, he was going to go out, he was going to be aggressive. He also understood how important finishing possessions was. He had eleven defensive rebounds– that’s knowing and understanding how to manipulate the game and how to make winning plays, whatever your team needs in the moment.”

In that contest, Cunningham put up 33 points, snagged 12 rebounds and spread around three assists to boot in his 42 minutes played. Performances like that help underscore the positive evaluation that coach Bickerstaff offered to the media after the Pistons victory.

Now, if Cunningham is able to keep refining his game while keeping his teammates involved, the sky is the limit for the Oklahoma State product, and he may ultimately wind up as the top point guard among his peers in the Eastern Conference.

Who is Cunningham competing with for the top PG spot in the Eastern Conference? 

From that perspective, Cunningham will receive steady competition from Jalen Brunson, a familiar foe after the playoff matchup last year. Brunson is a comparable scorer and also looks to dish the rock in creating plays, but he leaves a lot to be desired when compared to Cunningham from a rebounding perspective. Brunson is also a tad more efficient with the basketball, though he’s not as young or versatile as Detroit’s front-man. So, limiting turnovers is one area in which improvement could help the Pistons leader stake his claim as the East’s top point guard.

Other players such as Tyrese Haliburton and Trae Young could also conceivably be in the conversation for No. 1 point guard in the Eastern Conference, but each have significant factors working against them. For Haliburton, the recovery from an Achilles injury is a long, arduous process, and he’s going to be sidelined indefinitely in the meantime. And regarding Young, the Hawks PG is much less efficient than Cunningham is, so the edge goes to the Pistons player.

At the moment, all signs point to another year of improvement for Cunningham, and the coming season could see the 6-6, 220-pounder realize his potential as the premier point guard in the Eastern Conference. 

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