Every NBA MVP develops at their own pace, and each has their own path to greatness. But Cade Cunningham is trying to change himself from "best player on a historically bad team" to MVP of the league in record time.
In the 2023-24 season, Cunningham's third with the Pistons, the team went 14-68. Every win felt like a small miracle and every loss felt more crushing than the last. It was hopeless, helpless, and the "next steps" for the Pistons included getting any good players they could.
Fast forward just two years, and the best player on that team is still the best player on the team, only now that team has championship aspirations. When was the last time this happened? That a young player leads a woeful team, then just a few years later that same player leads the same team to greatness and captures MVP?
You have to go back to Allen Iverson in 2001, when he lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals just a few years removed from winning Rookie of the Year despite the team going 22-60. What we're seeing from Cade isn't unprecedented, but it sure is rare.
Cade Cunningham would be a rare kind of MVP
When teams are as bad as those Pistons were, it's hard to find any bright spots. It's even harder to convince yourself that there may be a future MVP on that roster. Even when Cade was dragging that roster behind his back every night, the lack of wins made it hard to see the overall plan through loss after loss.
Now, of course, the plan has been revealed, and Cade was the centerpiece of that plan all along. It's crazy to ever think that part of the plan was questioned. But when things are as bad as they were, everything comes under scrutiny.
He likely won't actually win MVP this year; he's 15th in the league in scoring, and a few of the guys ahead of him on that list (SGA, Jokic) are historically efficient as well. In other words, Cade has no chance against two all-time greats.
He remains squarely in the conversation, though — and on this date two years ago, the Pistons were heading to Indiana where they would lose and drop to 8-47. So "squarely in the conversation" for MVP is good enough for the time being, because that rise has happened remarkably quickly.