Cade Cunningham has snatched title off Paolo Banchero

A lot can change in two seasons, just ask Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero, two former #1 picks whose public perceptions have changed dramatically in that time. 

Two years ago, it was Banchero leading an upstart Magic team to the playoffs, earning himself an All-Star nod in the process, one year before Cade Cunningham got his. 

While Banchero was making the All-Star team back in 2023-24, Cade was toiling mostly unnoticed on one of the worst teams the NBA has ever seen, complete with a 28-game losing streak that made them the laughingstock of the league. 

Times have changed, and with over half of this season down and an All-Star championship in hand, there is no longer any doubt about who the best young player in the Eastern Conference truly is. 

Cade Cunningham is the best former #1 pick in the East 

Up until last season, it appeared that it was the Magic, not the Pistons, who had hit on the best number one pick over recent history in the East. 

The truth is that they both got lucky to have the top pick when they did, as the last seven #1 picks in the East have included names like Zaccharie Risacher, Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons (The Process, everyone!), Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett. 

Banchero and Cunningham are the only ones (Risacher still pending) that worked out for their respective teams, and now Cade has put himself clearly a tier or two above Banchero. 

While Cunningham is a player who makes everyone around him better with his playmaking and unselfishness, fingers have been pointed at Banchero for being a bit of a ball stopper, especially in clutch time. 

Banchero was one of the best clutch players in the league in the two seasons prior to this one, with a true shooting percentage of 50% in 2023-24 and 57.3 percent last year in an injury-plagued season. 

That number has dropped to 34 percent this season, while Cade Cunningham’s clutch true shooting percentage has soared to just under 60 percent. 

The Magic are now questioning whether Paolo and Franz Wagner can work together and will look to retool once again in the offseason. 

Meanwhile, the Pistons have the best record in the league, Cade Cunningham was just one of the leaders of the All-Star game winner, and Detroit is set up for long-term success even if they don’t make a major move this summer. 

Look, Paolo Banchero is a very good player, so this isn’t shade against him, but more to shine a light on how much things have changed in two years, as there was once an argument about who was better between him and Cade. 

That argument is over, and Cunningham is clearly the best former #1 pick in the East if not the best player in the conference overall.