The Detroit Pistons came out of nowhere this season to go from the worst team in the NBA to the 6th seed, a renaissance no one saw coming.
It was led by Cade Cunningham, who has already bagged his first All-Star appearance and should join his first All-NBA team at the end of the season.
It’s the first season Cunningham is eligible for postseason awards under the new rules that require players to appear in at least 65 games, which he did this year for the first time in his career.
Cunningham was the frontrunner for Most Improved Player on betting sites for most of the season, an award that eventually went to Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks.
Cade finished third in the voting behind Daniels and Ivica Zubac, garnering 122 total points and 15 first-place votes.
If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think Cade Cunningham should have won this award simply because he was already very good and just playing on a bad team. A guy like Daniels better fits the spirit of the award in my opinion.
But that’s the problem, it’s all opinion of the voters, and their tastes seem to shift on this award more than any other.
Was Cade Cunningham snubbed for Most Improved Player?
MIP is probably the most nebulous NBA postseason award, as there are no clear guidelines for what it means.
Is it a role player who suddenly leaps into a bigger role? Is it a young guy who got more opportunity on a new team? Is it a veteran who suddenly goes from good to great? Is it a guy like Cade Cunningham, a very good player who makes the leap to superstardom?
The last few years it has been the latter, as Tyrese Maxey won last season after making a similar leap as Cade. Maxey was already a 20 ppg scorer but his leap to All-Star also landed him the MIP award.
You could say the same of Lauri Markkanen and Ja Morant, players who were already good but evolved into great. They were high draft picks who were expected to be where they ended up.
You’d have to go all the way back to Pascal Siakam in 2018-19 to find a player who came out of nowhere, who wasn't a lottery pick and more than doubled his scoring from one season to the next.
It’s not an award Cade Cunningham or the Detroit Pistons will care about, as their only focus is survival in their first-round series with the Knicks.
But it is interesting that voters went away from a trend the first season Cade Cunningham was eligible for an award. I’m sure Cunningham would prefer All-NBA recognition and probably agree he doesn’t fit the mold of an MIP, though that mold is ever-changing.