Cade Cunningham is closer to rookie Luka Doncic than you might think

Cade Cunningham just has to start hitting 3-point shots and getting to the line

As you can see, Cade Cunningham is actually ahead or equal to Luka in every category except scoring, where there is a noticeable gap.

At this point in their respective rookie seasons, Luka was already hitting 38 percent of his 3-point attempts, ten points better than Cade Cunningham even though they were taking almost the exact number of attempts.

Cunningham showed signs that he is going to break out of his slump soon, as he is coming off his best shooting performance of the season and looked comfortable scoring from all three levels.

I don’t think Cade is going to shoot like that every night, but even a return to his norms will put him much closer to Luka’s rookie numbers at the end of his first season which were 21.2 points, six assists and 7.8 rebounds.

Cunningham should start getting more assists, as he is averaging nearly 10 potential assists per game. The question is whether his teammates can make any of the open shots he creates. I wouldn’t bet on it at this point, but if the team even shot league average, six assists per game is possible.

Luka finished his rookie season shooting just 32 percent from long range, and I expect Cade will get close to that or even surpass it by the end of the season. It’s the difference of hitting two or three more shots per game and there are signs that is going to happen.

Cade has also shown a willingness to get on the boards, so I expect his numbers will be similar to what they are now or higher.

The other area where rookie Luka has a big advantage is at the free-throw line. Doncic ended up taking 6.7 free-throws per game in his rookie season, while Cade is taking just two per game.

The differences in free-throw attempts and three-point percentage account for the gap in their scoring, but both of these are things within Cade’s power.

If he starts hitting 3-point shots consistently and makes a bigger effort to get to the line, Cunningham will be very close to matching Luka’s rookie numbers, which is exciting territory.

If Cade can be anywhere near Luka Pistons’ fans will be ecstatic and he has a long way to go, but he is off to a promising start.