Cade Cunningham has exploded onto the national scene this year for the Detroit Pistons, as he is leading the NBA’s biggest turnaround and putting up monster numbers in the process.
He’s already made the All-Star team but there could be bigger postseason awards on the horizon, as he is now getting some love for an All-NBA team.
With Luka Doncic ineligible because of the minimum games requirement, a spot is open that likely would have been his.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the frontrunner for MVP (I’d still vote for Jokic if I had a vote) and all but guaranteed a spot on the All-NBA first team.
That leaves a slew of talented star guards to battle it out for the remaining spots, a group that includes players with way more name recognition than Cunningham has.
I do not expect Cade Cunningham to make the first team All-NBA, and to be completely honest, I’d be surprised if he made the All-NBA team at all. It usually takes a year of play at this level before voters really pay attention and this is the first year Cade’s team has been competitive.
I absolutely think he should make it, and when you look at the numbers he has as good an argument as any of the others. I chose five other guards to compare Cade to, and the results will show you just how difficult this decision really is.
You can’t go wrong with any of these players and they all have solid arguments for different reasons, but here is how the stats break down. Remember, I am leaving SGA out of this conversation since he’s a given, and if you want to argue for guys like Trae Young and Tyrese Haliburton, go ahead.
Cade Cunningham vs. The field for All-NBA
I’m mostly comparing things that are easy to quantify, as you can argue all day about which of these stars means the most to their team or has intangibles that can’t be measured.
Wins
Team success matters, but there’s also an argument to be made that Cade has the worst supporting cast of any of these players.
- Donovan Mitchell (52-10)
- Jalen Brunson (40-22)
- Damian Lillard (36-25)
- Cade/Anthony Edwards/Stephen Curry (35-28)
Mitchell is running away with this one, but shout out to Cunningham, as he has the least amount of help and his team won 14 games last season. Cade is the only guy on this list who doesn’t play with another superstar (or two).*
If you had told anyone before the season that the Pistons would have the same number of wins as the T’Wolves and Warriors in March, they probably would have told you to have your head checked.
Cunningham may get more credit here, as no one expected the Pistons to be this good and he’s the lone star on his team.
*Curry now has Butler, but shout out to him for playing like this without a ton of help.
Points per game
- Anthony Edwards (27.5)
- Jalen Brunson (26)
- Cade Cunningham (25.5)
- Damian Lillard (25.5)
- Donovan Mitchell (24.4)
- Stephen Curry (24.1)
There’s not much in this, with just three points separating one and six. I do find it interesting that Cade is the only one on this list not considered a “pure” scorer.
Assists per game
- Cade Cunningham (9.4)
- Jalen Brunson (7.4)
- Damian Lillard (7.2)
- Steph Curry (6.3)
- Donovan Mitchell (4.8)
- Anthony Edwards (4.6)
Cade clears everyone by a wide margin when it comes to assists, and is currently 3rd overall in the league behind Jokic and LeBron. On a side note: Can we appreciate for a second how freaking good LeBron still is? He’s 40 years old and still at this level. Unreal.
Rebounds per game
- Cade Cunningham (6.1)
- Anthony Edwards (5.9)
- Damian Lillard (4.6)
- Stephen Curry (4.5)
- Donovan Mitchell (4.3)
- Jalen Brunson (3)
Cade for the win again. He’s the tallest on this list, but also a point guard, so for him to be averaging over six rebounds a game is very good, especially when he has board-hoovers like Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson to compete with.
This is why Cade Cunningham also leads all of these players in triple-doubles this season.
Defense
- Cade Cunningham/Anthony Edwards
- The rest
This one is more difficult to quantify, and I am a Homer, but I’d put Cade easily atop this list. To appease the dissent, I will put him tied with Ant. You can argue all of the rest, but Cade and Ant are the only ones defending the other team’s best player at times and the only ones who can guard wings and forwards as well as ones.
Field goal percentage
- Jalen Brunson (49%)
- Cade Cunningham (46%)
- Damian Lillard (45.3%)
- Donovan Mitchell (45%)
- Steph Curry (44%)
- Anthony Edwards (43%)
These are all high-usage guys who take a lot of shots, so for Cade to be second here is a big deal. Cunningham and Edwards are tied for the most attempts and the only ones taking more than 20 shots per game, which makes Cunningham's numbers even more impresive.
Three-point percentage
- Anthony Edwards (40%)
- Steph Curry (39%)
- Donovan Mitchell (39%)
- Jalen Brunson (38%)
- Damian Lillard (38%)
- Cade Cunningham (35)
Cunningham makes the fewest number of 3-point shots of the group, but that’s not really his game. Edwards, Mitchell, Curry and Lillard are all volume 3-point shooters while SGA, Cade and Brunson are guys that try to punish you more in the paint.
There are clearly other factors that go into this voting, as everyone has their biases and prioritizes one thing over another. You also have name recognition and team success, both past and present.
For those reasons, I’d be shocked if Cade Cunningham made the All-NBA first team, but he has a case, as he’s the only player leading or tied in three categories and there is only one (3-point shooting) in which he comes last.
When you factor in defense and the fact that Cade is the only one not playing with another star (Curry had this argument pre-Butler), then I think Cunningham’s case is as strong as anyone’s.