Cade Cunningham finished a surprising 7th in the MVP voting last season, and many think he’ll climb even higher this year, including 3-time NBA champion Danny Green.
Speaking on his Inside the Green Room podcast, the former sharpshooter called Cade “The SGA of the East” and picked him as his choice for Clutch Player of the Year. He cited how Cade plays at his own pace and is actually more athletic than SGA, which is bold praise considering the latter is fresh off an MVP season.
Green also predicted that Cade would learn from some of his shortcomings and make it deeper in the playoffs this season, which is the hope of every Pistons fan.
Both Cade and SGA are big lead guards who like to do most of their damage from the mid-range and near the rim. The bunnies and free throws were the biggest differences between the two players last season.
Cunningham only shot 56.4 percent on shots under five feet, while SGA hit a staggering 68.2 percent. Gilgeous-Alexander also shot 3.5 more free throws per game on average than Cunningham, and these two things account for the gap in their points per game.
If Cunningham is stronger at the rim and gets to the line a few more times per game, there is no reason he can’t score 30+ per game, which would put him firmly in the MVP discussion. And when you look at two players, they are on a similar trajectory.
Cade Cunningham will be close to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Let’s start with a quick hypothetical: Which player would you rather have?
Player A: 26.1ppg, 9.1 apg, 5.3 rpg on 47/35/84 shooting splits
Player B: 24.5 ppg, 5.9 apg, 5 rpg on 45/30/81 shooting splits
In case you haven’t figured it out, Player A is Cade Cunningham’s last season, and Player B is SGA at the same age. As you can see, Cunningham was actually better than SGA at age 23 and has already made his first All-Star game and All-NBA team, feats SGA had not accomplished by the same age.
Of course, SGA then made another leap from that level and then another one from that, so that’s what Cunningham is going to have to do if he wants to have a legit shot at an MVP.
SGA was able to do it by becoming more efficient from the mid-range and paint, as he upped his field goal percentage from 45 percent to 51 percent in one season. We’ll have to wait and see if that kind of leap in efficiency is coming for Cunningham, but so far, the signs are good, as he’s been lights out in the preseason.
Cunningham is on the same trajectory as SGA, and if the Pistons are successful this season, we could see him in the top five of the MVP voting.