Cade Cunningham is rising quickly in the public eye as the Pistons put together a dominant record. With the Pistons finally winning and Cade continuing to dominate, he's finally catching the eye of national media outlets and getting the respect he deserves. But some media outlets have been quick to overreact and set him up for disappointment by forcing him into conversations that he's not ready for.
Recently, Bleacher Report released a "5-year redraft" of all the prospects from the 2020-24 NBA drafts. Naturally, Victor Wembanyama went first overall as he has already reached an All-NBA level when healthy and is just 21 years old. Surprisingly, Cade was taken second over other young players with more proven playoff success such as Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton.
Cade needs to prove himself in the NBA's highest tier
While Cade is a great player, it is premature to rank him over those aforementioned guards who have established themselves as top-tier superstars. Both Edwards and Haliburton have multiple deep playoff runs under their belt while being the best player on their teams. Cade will look to replicate that feat soon, but he still has some flaws to clean up first.
Notably, Cade's efficiency has been lacking compared to the league's best high-volume scorers such as Edwards. Cade is not able to generate easy looks for himself as easily as Edwards, who can attack the rim with his supreme athleticism or hit threes with his newfound range. Cade is a midrange maestro, but the inefficiency of those shots limits his ceiling as a scorer.
In terms of playmaking, Cade is also among the league leaders in assists but lacks the same efficiency as Haliburton. Hali racks up assists at a similar rate without nearly as many turnovers as Cade. This keeps the Pacers offense in a better rhythm and prevents opposing teams from getting easy fastbreak opportunities. Cade is hurt by the Pistons' lack of shooting around him, but he also has many careless turnovers through his own fault.
That being said, Cade's strong impact on both ends of the court make an argument for him to be ranked over Ant and Hali. He's a much stronger defender than Haliburton and has shown more consistent defensive focus than Edwards. Both Cade and Ant are defensive playmakers as big guards, but Cade is often better as a positional defender when he's not making a steal or block.
Certainly, Cade has the potential to reach the level of Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton in the near future. But for the time being, he's not on their tier just yet. Cade hasn't had the same playoff success as these accomplished peers, and he doesn't have the clear superior ceiling like Wembanyama.