It was always silly that folks doubted Cade Cunningham's ability to be the No. 1 option on a team with real postseason aspirations. Now, heading into 2025-26, it's almost unthinkable. Career-highs in points, assists, 3-point percentage, free throw attempts, true shooting, all combined with the best team season Cunningham has experienced during his time in the league, have suddenly placed him in a new tier of player: bona fide MVP candidate.
He's still not a perfect player, of course; his efficiency was good, not elite in 2024-25, and getting to the free-throw line even more next season after a career-high 5.3 attempts last season might be the key to moving him from the outskirts of an MVP race to the center of it.
Too early or right on time?
Cade Cunningham is entering his fifth NBA season — that would be the earliest a player has won MVP since Derrick Rose in 2010-11, and Cade would be the first No. 1 pick to win their first MVP since Rose, too. (LeBron James is the most recent No. 1 pick to win the award, but his first one came in 2008-09.) So, while that does seem early, it's not
Nikola Jokic won his first MVP in his sixth season. So did Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry. Kevin Durant got his in year seven, while Russell Westbrook won his in year nine, as did James Harden. There isn't one specific year that serves as a benchmark of when guys start to get real love in MVP voting, but year five is usually around the time they start to seriously be in the conversation. Plus, a fair amount of those guys — namely Giannis and Jokic — were certainly not stars in their first few seasons. Cade, meanwhile, was thrown into the fire, and somehow came out with no burns. Year five for a No. 1 pick who was immediately asked to be a star player feels like a lifetime in the NBA.
After finishing No. 7 in voting last year, a natural progression from Cade and improvements in a few areas (that feel very improvable) could boost him into the real MVP contender class. Plus, if the Pistons continue their upward climb, Cade's case will become stronger yet. The Pistons should be even better than last year as Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland should get even more comfortable in their roles and new guys Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson should be able to replace the production lost with Malik Beasley (potentially) heading elsewhere.
Cade could finally break through for the Pistons
If you're reading this piece... thank you, first of all. And you probably know that a Pistons player has never won MVP. Cade is obviously looking to change that. Entering this season, Cade has the best chance of winning the award since Chauncey Billups in the mid-2000s. Even the best Piston of all time, Isiah Thomas, never really had a chance because he was in the league at the same time as prime Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Lame.
Cade, of course, is in the league at the same time as prime Giannis, Jokic, Shai, and Luka, which makes the road to a modern day MVP tough too. But it's not a crazy notion that when it all comes together for Cade like it started to last year, the Motor City could see some hardware it never has before.