Cade Cunningham has taken a star turn this season and is leading the Detroit Pistons back to respectability after a historically bad year for the team.
Cunningham has put himself firmly in the All-Star discussion and if he continues on this trajectory, there could be more postseason awards coming, including Most Improved Player and maybe even a spot on the All-NBA team.
With just under half of the season played, we’re not there yet, but Cunningham has answered a lot of questions and is evolving into the superstar the Pistons need him to be.
And if you look at his same-age stats, Cunningham is on the same path as the current frontrunner for MVP in the NBA.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Cade Cunningham
In many ways, the OKC Thunder should be the model for the Pistons, as they are not an elite free-agent destination, so have built their team mostly through the draft.
It started by identifying their star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and putting the right complementary pieces around him, which the Pistons have finally started to do with Cade Cunningham after essentially squandering his first three years in the league.
SGA has been 1st-team All-NBA the last two seasons and is the frontrunner for MVP in this one by a wide margin according to the odds at FanDuel.
He’s averaging over 31 per game, tops in the NBA and is leading one of the best teams in basketball and if both of those hold true, he’ll probably take home the award.
The question is whether Cunningham can get to that level, and if you look at their same-age stats in their 4th season, it’s promising.
Shai-Gilgeous Alexander: Year 4 statistics
24.5 points, 5.9 assists and 5 rebounds on 45% from the floor and 30% from 3-point range
Cade Cunningham: Year 4 statistics
24.4 points, 9.4 assists and 6.5 rebounds on 45.6% from the floor and 37.5% from 3-point range
Like Cade, SGA was 23-years-old in his 4th season and the numbers are very close. In fact, Cunningham bests him in just about every statistic.
The only area where SGA was better when he was Cade’s age is in 2-point percentage, as he shot 51.4 percent and Cunningham is currently hitting 49.5 percent of his shots from 2-point range.
Cunningham is shooting and making more 3-point shots to make up the difference, setting his teammates up for considerably more assists, grabbing more rebounds and doing it more efficiently.
There is a solid argument that Cunningham is better right now than SGA was at the same age.
Of course, SGA blew up even more the next season, netting 1st-team All-NBA honors and finishing 5th in the MVP voting. He improved upon that last season by making 1st-team All-NBA again and finishing 2nd in the MVP voting.
Cunningham will have to make another leap next season for him to get where SGA is now, but right now, they are on a similar trajectory, which is great news for the Pistons, who now need to do what OKC did with Shai and put quality depth around Cade.