Pistons risk the unthinkable if they continue to fail Cade Cunningham

When Cade Cunningham was drafted by the Detroit Pistons, we immediately asked who the second star was going to be, a question that still exists five years later. 

Cunningham is now a legit MVP candidate entering his peak, and the Pistons aren’t much closer to answering their biggest question. 

Jalen Duren evolved into an All-Star this season, but he’s not yet a true second option, and much of what he does relies heavily on Cunningham’s gravity and passing. 

Duren isn’t a guy who can consistently get his own shot, and the Pistons still don’t have a guard or wing who fits the mold of a second creator and scorer. 

The Pistons traded away Jaden Ivey and had no immediate plan for how to replace him, or at least the idea of him, so you can add his name to the list of Cade’s backcourt mates that includes Killian Hayes and now Duncan Robinson, Daniss Jenkins and Caris LeVert, not exactly a murderer's row of names there. 

Jenkins wasn’t even supposed to be in the rotation this season, so after five years (two front offices and three coaches), the Pistons have failed to give Cade Cunningham a starting level NBA shooting guard to play with, outside of 30 tantalizing games with Jaden Ivey before he got hurt.

The alarm bells aren’t sounding yet, but it is a problem the Pistons will have to solve soon. 

It’s time to get Cade Cunningham some help 

The Pistons are still playing with house money to a degree when it comes to Cade Cunningham, as they are good and hope to make a deep run in the playoffs with a team that is still developing, which in many ways is exactly where you want to be. 

Cunningham is far from any kind of drama or demanding out, so I am not in any way saying that is what will happen. 

But that patience won’t last forever, so Trajan Langdon is going to be under pressure to get a real second star next to Cade this summer regardless of what happens in the playoffs. 

Cunningham is still shouldering a huge burden offensively for this team, which not only wears him out over a long season, but makes the Pistons relatively easy to gameplan for, especially in the playoffs. 

The Pistons aren’t at risk of losing Cunningham anytime soon, but if they want to take advantage of his window, they will eventually have to take a shot, as they can’t waste any of his peak years waiting for his teammates to catch up or hoping castoffs and two-way players are enough. 

Right now, it’s unthinkable that Cunnigham would ever ask his way out of Detroit, but he has the least amount of help of any MVP candidate and at some point, that has to change, not just for his benefit but for this team to be a sustainable title contender.