Detroit Pistons MVP and LVP for the 2023-24 season
In a recent article, I sarcastically wrote that the fans were the MVPs of the Detroit Pistons this year for staying passionate and engaged even though they were being subjected to the worst season in franchise history.
I will name the most valuable player for the Pistons this season, but given how it turned out, I need to balance it with the player who was least valuable.
Related Story. 2023-24 Season grades for the Detroit Pistons. 2023-24 Season grades for the Detroit Pistons. dark
Detroit Pistons Most Valuable Player: Cade Cunningham
This was a no-brainer, as Cade was one of the only things to get excited about. He was one of five players in the NBA to average at least 22 points and seven assists and improved his 3-point shooting to 35.5 percent, a big leap from his previous two seasons.
Cade Cunningham exemplified what it means to be relentless this season. He was one of just five players in the NBA to average 22 points and 7 assists and became just the third Piston to ever do so in a season. When you become the sixth-fastest player in NBA history to reach 2,500… pic.twitter.com/33wUQSapGl
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) April 17, 2024
Cunningham only played 62 games, but I think most of us would have taken that given he was coming off leg surgery. He did have the highest usage rate of his career and the Pistons might have let him play down the stretch if the games weren’t meaningless.
Cunningham does not look like the generational player we were hoping for when he was drafted with the first overall pick, but he looks like a future All-Star and a player the Pistons can build around.
Detroit Pistons Least Valuable Player: Joe Harris
This category was hotly contested, and you could make a case for a number of players, including Killian Hayes and James Wiseman. But in the end, no one provided less to the Pistons this season than Harris, who was Troy Weaver’s big offseason acquisition.
Harris, who ate up $20 million in cap space, played just 16 games for the Pistons before eventually being released, averaging 2.4 points and shooting just 33 percent from 3-point range a full ten percentage points worse than his career average.
Harris couldn’t defend anyone, and part of the reason his shooting percentage was so low was that he couldn’t get open.
The Pistons needed veteran help in the offseason and instead got a guy who was likely playing his last games in the NBA, which is why Troy Weaver has to be attached to Harris’ LVP trophy. This isn’t Harris’ fault, as no one should have expected him to be much more than he was, and Weaver missed an opportunity to use that cap space on productive free agents.
It was a tough year with more negatives than positives, and the Joe Harris debacle really set the tone for what was to come.
manual