Throughout this NBA season and now into the playoffs and Finals, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has dazzled fans and put together a historic campaign. His accolades include the regular season MVP and the Western Conference Finals MVP, and he hopes to punctuate the season with a championship and Finals MVP as well. For Detroit Pistons fans watching from home, SGA's play style offers optimism about Cade Cunningham’s potential future development.
While Shai is clearly a tier or two above Cade as a player right now, there are a lot of similarities in their games. Both are big lead guards who are able to get their own shot and create for others, and their size allows them to hold up well on the defensive end. By comparing their play styles and statistical profiles, we can see where Cade still has room to grow before becoming an MVP-caliber player.
The good news is that Cade's numbers are actually better than SGA's when he was the same age, but Cade has some work to do to get where SGA is now.
How Cade Cunningham becomes an MVP for the Detroit Pistons
A very obvious similarity between Shai and Cade is their fondness of the mid-range area. In an era when many players and teams are shying away from the mid-range, both of these two ranked in the top 15 this season in mid-range (8-16 ft) attempts per game. Although Cade is considered a mid-range savant in his own right, Shai really took it to another level. Shai converted 53.8% of his 6.2 mid-range attempts per game, compared to Cade shooting 47.3% on 4.0 attempts per game.
A more glaring difference between Cade and SGA is their rim finishing numbers. Cade actually got to the rim more than SGA this season, as he attempted 9.8 shots per game from less than 8 ft away, to Shai’s 8.2. However, Shai made up this gap in attempts with improved efficiency: he shot 62.6% on these shots while Cade shot just 53.9%.
BBall Index’s “Finishing Talent” metric (which takes into account difficulty of shots at the rim) actually rated Cade and Shai as equal in Finishing Talent because Cade takes much harder shots at the rim. In order to take that next leap, Cade will need to get better at creating easy looks for himself at the rim.
Part of the finishing discrepancy might be due to foul-drawing. SGA’s ability to draw fouls has been often criticized this season, but it does undoubtedly benefit his scoring efficiency on drives. Shai averaged 8.8 free throw attempts per game this season, second only to Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Cade averaged a far fewer 5.3. Improving his ability to draw fouls will be another way for Cade to close the gap between himself and the MVP.
Finally, the last huge statistical difference between Shai and Cade is their turnovers: Cade averaged 4.4 per game, second in the league only behind Trae Young, and Shai averaged just 2.4 per game. Hopefully the Pistons can surround Cade with other playmakers who can lessen his offensive burden, but either way he simply needs to do a better job taking care of the ball. Shai is similarly tasked with being the primary creator for the Thunder and also takes primarily unassisted shots, but he is not nearly as careless with the ball.
Cade Cunningham is a talent on the rise and Pistons fans have high hopes that he can one day become an MVP-level star. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s success showing that a similar archetype can lead teams deep into the postseason, Cade should be more motivated than ever to improve his game to the same level.