The Detroit Pistons’ single game scoring record could be in jeopardy with Cade Cunningham coming to the Motor City.
The Pistons have had some electric scoring performances over the year, with five different players who have scored more than 50 points in a game.
But if you look at their top-5 scoring performances, you’ll see that most of them got it done without the benefit of the 3-point shot.
In fact, power forward Blake Griffin made the most 3-point shots of any of the Pistons who scored at least 50 points.
The top scorer, Jerry Stackhouse scored 57 points against the Bulls while making only four shots from long range.
With the game changing and scoring on the rise, Cade Cunningham has a good shot of breaking the Detroit Pistons’ single game scoring record as soon as next season. Here’s why.
Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham is going to get a ton of shots
Being the best player on a rebuilding team has its advantages, namely that Cunningham is going to have the ball in his hands a lot and should get plenty of shots.
He’ll be running the show in the backcourt, so if he gets hot, don’t expect him to back off. Though Cade won’t be the one-man team that he was at Oklahoma State, where he was able to drop 44 points in a college game on just 21 shots.
The pro game is longer, so if Cade is lighting it up, he’ll get more chances and could end up having a game where he takes closer to 30 shots. It took Stackhouse 36 shots to get his 57 points and if Cade ever has a game with that kind of usage, he could get there.
Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham can shoot the 3-ball
Cunningham will have a huge advantage over any of the Pistons top single-game scorers, as he can shoot the 3-ball much better than any of them.
Cunningham shot 40 percent from long range in college and nearly 50 percent in his action in Summer League, so this is a guy who is going to let it fly from the 3-point line.
While guys like Stackhouse and Rip Hamilton had to toil in the mid-range to get their buckets, Cunningham can fill it up from 3-point range, and it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where he knocks down 8-10 of them in a game.
The Detroit Pistons are going to feed him the ball, especially if he’s making them, and I think it’s safe to say that Cade Cunningham is going to have some big scoring games this season for Detroit.
Will it be enough for him to break the record in his rookie season? Probably not, but he has all of the tools to do it at some point in his career.