Wild Cade Cunningham highlight will silence the critics

Cade Cunningham has gotten plenty of praise after his breakout season, but one area critics have continued to question is his athleticism, a silly notion he is putting to rest in a big way. 

Cunningham caught an errant alley-oop from Tobias Harris in the fast break in last night’s win over Memphis, went under the hoop for a reverse, changed hands mid-air and somehow still made the shot look easy: 

Cunningham is not a flashy athlete like Jaden Ivey or Ausar Thompson, though he did throw down some highlight reel dunks last season. His game is mostly below the rim, but he can crank it up when he needs to, as we’ve seen on a few poster dunks in his career.

There are different facets to athleticism beyond just jumping high or running fast, and this highlight shows that from Cade Cunningham. 

Cade Cunningham highlight shows a different kind of athleticism 

Athleticism also involves hand-eye coordination, muscle memory and being able to react quickly and improvise as needed, as we saw in Cunningham’s viral highlight. 

Cunningham makes it look easy at times, as if the game has slowed down just for him, but that doesn’t mean what he’s doing isn’t impressive athletically.  

We’ve also seen Cunningham use both hands more often and did again last night on a floater in the lane where he switched to the left at the last second. He missed the shot, but it’s one his ambidextrousness and athleticism allow him to make. 

Cunningham looked even more comfortable in his body, like he knows he is good now and can dominate people physically and take over games as he did on his way to 20 points last night in just 19 minutes, looking like the best player on the floor the entire time he was on it.

Both the Pistons’ young guards need to clean up their turnovers, but Jaden Ivey could certainly learn some things from Cade, specifically how to choose his spots to explode, play more under control and within the pace of the play.  Ivey still doesn't have that off switch that allows him to pull up for floaters after getting defenders off balance.

Tobias Harris joked around about the Pistons having an elite athlete that no one ever talks about, and I have a feeling he might have been talking about Cade Cunnigham, who doesn’t jump out of the gym, but makes plays that show coordination and control that few players in the league have. 

Ausar Thompson and Jaden Ivey are going to have more viral highlights this season, but Cunningham’s athleticism should no longer be a question.