Cade Cunningham had a career high last night in the Detroit Pistons’ loss and showed pretty much everything we wanted to see.
He was aggressive taking the ball to the hoop and scored effortlessly from the paint. He also pulled up for mid-range jumpers, hit some catch-and-shoot 3-point shots, as well as one off the bounce, demonstrating how he is going to be a superstar in this league.
Cade also flashed his biggest weakness, which is that he turns the ball over too much, coughing it up six times, mostly on plays that he needs to eliminate from his game at the NBA level.
This is common for rookie point guards as they try to adjust to the speed of the NBA, where open windows close quickly.
Cunningham has shown that he can affect games and make winning plays in a number of ways, but how does he compare to other star point guards at this point in their careers?
Cade Cunningham is averaging 13.8 points, 4.6 assists and 6.6 rebounds through 21 games while shooting 27.4 from 3-point range on 117 attempts. He is 20-years-old.
He has only played in 16 of those games, so this won’t be a direct comparison, as all three of these point guards played in all of the first 21 games of their rookie season.
But we can get an idea of how these three stars started and where Cade Cunningham will eventually end up.
How does LaMelo Ball compare to Cade Cunningham?
The first star point guard is LaMelo Ball, last year’s Rookie of the Year. He and Cade have similar games, as they can both fill up a stat sheet and affect the game in many ways.
I’d say Cade is a slightly better shooter and much better defender than LaMelo and that Melo is a better passer, but they do have a lot of similarities as big point guards without blazing speed or high-flying athleticism.
Here are LaMelo’s stats through his first 21 games:
- 15 points
- 6.3 assists
- 6.3 rebounds
- 30% from 3-point range on 91 attempts
Even though he has played five fewer games, Cade has attempted 26 more 3-pointers than LaMelo had at this stage. Both struggled to shoot consistently in their first 21 games but impacted their team in other ways.
The Hornets are 13-10 in LaMelo’s second season and have one of the top offenses in the NBA. Could the Pistons make a similar leap in Cade’s second year?
How does Cade Cunningham compare to Trae Young?
By any measure Trae Young is one of the best young guards in the NBA. He has already impacted his teams’ winning and carried the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals last year in just his third season.
He has already made an All-Star team (and should have made it last season) and is averaging 26 points and nine assists in this one.
His game has some similarities to Cade’s, though Young relies much more on his quickness to get to his spots while Cade uses pace and size.
Here is what Trae’s stats looked like after 21 games in the NBA:
- 15.7 points
- 7.2 assists
- 2.9 rebounds
- 24.7% from 3-point range on 121 attempts
As you can see, Trae Young struggled mightily from long range to start his career, even though he was finding other ways to score.
One thing these two have in common is that missed shots don’t hurt their confidence, as Young kept shooting his way through his slumps and eventually figured it out.
I think Cade will follow a similar trajectory and won’t be surprised if he averages close to 20 a game in his rookie season when it is all said and done.
How does Cade Cunningham compare to Stephen Curry?
Steph Curry is the frontrunner for MVP this season and is one of the best point guards to ever play the game.
If he puts together another MVP run and the Warriors win a title, I think it’s time to start putting him in the GOAT discussion for point guards if we are not there already.
But if you only looked at his first 21 games, you’d have never guessed this guy was going to change the game of basketball. Here are Curry’s per game numbers through his first 21 games in the league:
- 11 points
- 4.8 assists
- 3.3 rebounds
- 37% from 3-point range on 62 attempts
As you can see, Cade Cunningham has shot nearly twice as many 3-pointers in five fewer games than the guy who is now widely considered the greatest shooter of all time.
It’s funny how many people would have given up on Curry after this and written him off as just another guy.
These three star guards are all at different points in their career and all have some attributes that Cade Cunningham shares.
The numbers of these three stars show guys who struggled shooting the ball early, just like Cade Cunningham, but all of them also showed flashes of superstar talent and diverse skills that eventually made them three of the best in the league.
Cade Cunningham will join them soon.