Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham was recently honored for his dominant fourth year in the league

Entering the 2024-25 NBA season a year ago, it was clear that the Detroit Pistons would be fueled by versatile point guard Cade Cunningham, who was entering his fourth season as a pro. But Cunningham took his game to a new level, and therein helped send the Pistons to a familiar yet distant place– the post-season.

From a metrics perspective, Cunningham logged 26.1 points, 9.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game throughout his 70 regular season starts. As those numbers would suggest, Cunningham was a triple-double threat each time he stepped onto the court, and the Oklahoma State product put up nine triple doubles, which averages out to a triple double in 12% of his starts last season. 

Outside of the statistics, Cunningham helped control the pace and the energy of the Pistons squad both on the court and in the locker room as well. During his time in Detroit, Cunningham has developed a calm, cool sense of composure that has helped him to keep the Pistons traveling in a steady direction of improvement. 

So, by the time the NBA’s end-of-season awards were turned in last year, it was no surprise that Cunningham had earned his way onto a bevy of celebratory lists. After making the All-Star game during the middle of the season, Cunningham landed on the All-NBA third team and even received the seventh-most votes for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award as well.

With those honors to his credit, Cunningham finally had an opportunity to receive the fruits of his labor when he was brought into the team’s facility by President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon. 

“It’s that time to celebrate you once more as the latest Pistons All-Star,” Langdon said as he handed a shiny new plaque to the team’s star point guard. “Cade Cunningham, you can actually put this up on your own.” 

“Now we’re on the wall,” Cunningham narrated. 

Prior to Cunningham, the last Detroit player to be selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star team was Blake Griffin in 2019. However, the celebratory occasion did not stop there. 

“We’ve got something else for you too,” Langdon said. “It’s an All-NBA ball right here.”

At that moment, Langdon handed over a carefully-wrapped commemorative basketball that looked to be made out of crystal with golden lines between the panels. Of course, the year 2024-25 was etched into the front.

“I did good, man,” Cunningham said with an awestruck tone. “That’s nice. I appreciate it… let’s get some more of these.”

While the NBA does not officially recognize an individual trophy as a result of making the All-NBA squads, this was clearly an opportunity bestowed upon the do-it-all Pistons point guard as a result of his standout play a year ago. 

“I appreciate all the fans,” Cunningham said. “I love y’all. We’ll see y’all later this year.” 

The Detroit Pistons will soon take the floor once again when the team begins its pre-season on Monday, Oct. 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies. 

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