Cade Cunningham’s Dominant Performance Amidst Detroit Pistons’ Losing Streak

ATLANTA — It was about 5:30 p.m. inside downtown Atlanta’s State Farm Arena and Cade Cunningham was doing something out of the ordinary. He was on the basketball court.

A Different Approach

NBA players are creatures of habit. Game days look the same. Their every minute is scheduled. Cunningham isn’t supposed to walk onto the court for his pregame workout for another 30 minutes or so. Yet, there he was, lingering with his Apple headphones draped over his Afro and a basketball in hand. As his teammates, the ones scheduled to work out before him, are going through their pregame workout in doubles, the 22-year-old Cunningham inserts himself into the equation, getting up shots in between the ones taken by whoever was supposed to be on the court.

It was different. And the Detroit Pistons, losers of 23 straight, about to take on the Atlanta Hawks two hours later, needed something different.

A Career Night

By the time the night was over, though, the Pistons lost. Again. The result was the same. But it wasn’t because of Cunningham. He was the best player on the floor in a 6-point loss to the Hawks, scoring a career-high 43 points, dishing out seven assists, grabbing five rebounds and only turning the ball over three times. It was the first 40-point game in the NBA for the 2021 No. 1 pick. It was as dominant an effort as he’s put forth in a Pistons uniform. There were jump shots, dunks, steals, blocks … the whole shebang.

He couldn’t care less.

“There’s no balancing it. We lost the game,” Cunningham, who missed all but 12 games last season due to a shin injury and surgery, said when asked how he balances his career night and yet another Detroit loss. “I’m dealing with that more than anything. I just wanted to come here and win.”

Career-high for @CadeCunningham_ tonight pic.twitter.com/Rc78RiVk06

— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 19, 2023

The Pistons haven’t done that since Oct. 28, since Game 2 of the World Series. At this point, Detroit is searching for a win sooner rather than later just to avoid losing the most consecutive games in NBA history.

Cunningham’s Progress Amidst the Losing Streak

The last 10 games have been rough for the Pistons, to put it mildly. Detroit only put a scare into the Hawks and New York Knicks during that span. Everyone else has handed the young Pistons a butt-whooping. During this stretch, though, Cunningham has turned a corner. He’s figured stuff out. And given where Detroit’s season is right now, Cunningham’s progress might be most important for the organization’s long-term health.

Over his last 10 games, Cunningham is averaging 22 points on 49 percent shooting from the field, seven assists and only three turnovers. He’s got a true shooting percentage of 58. He’s attempting 4.3 free throws per game. Cunningham is converting 73 percent of his shot attempts in the restricted area.

For comparison, through the first 17 games, Cunningham averaged 22 points on just 40 percent shooting from the field, seven assists and 4.8 turnovers. He had a true shooting percentage of 50.1. Cunningham attempted less than four free throws per game. He only converted 49.4 percent (!) of his shots in the restricted area.

It’s hard to see, or maybe even care, that Cunningham is figuring things out amidst this historic losing streak. But it’s happening. That can’t be ignored.

“He’s just growing,” head coach Monty Williams said after the loss to Atlanta. “As much as he had the ball tonight, he had just three turnovers. I’ve had young guards before and try to get them to understand, when you’re getting blitzed like that, you’re going to have to sacrifice your shot. Not that Cade is always looking for his shot, but I thought he did a good job of stretching the double-teams and finding guys. We just missed a bunch of shots. As the game went on, they got out of their blitz and he got downhill and started getting shots for himself and for the team.

“His leadership, I told him, we texted a little bit yesterday and I told him today, it’s tremendous. Watching his leadership during which will probably be the toughest time in his career. I couldn’t be more proud of how he’s talked to the group, had a great spirit every single day. He shows the pain of losing but, at the same time, he’s been the glue for us.”

Not coincidentally, Cunningham’s progress has come at the same time that Detroit stopped starting two bigs, primarily due to injuries. That hasn’t happened in five games, and in that stretch, Cunningham is posting 23.2 points while shooting 50 percent from the field, 5.8 assists (largely due to one player on Detroit being able to hit a 3) and just 2.4 turnovers. He’s even knocking down over 66 percent of his midrange attempts.

Cunningham has had room to operate due to the improved spacing, and nothing shows that more than the significant drop in turnovers and ability to get into the paint with less chaos. He’s not dribbling into crowds as much because the crowds haven’t been as prevalent. Getting Bojan Bogdanovic back has helped significantly, too. So has more reps off the ball. Williams is finding ways to mix up Cunningham’s usage and, at the very least, it’s paid off on an individual level.

Finishing at the rim has been something Cunningham has needed to improve in his young career. The turnovers have been way too high. The lack of free-throw attempts, too. The silver lining during this most recent stretch of this unbelievable period of Detroit basketball is that he’s shown real progress against his last 10 opponents, nine of which would be postseason teams if the season ended today.

The Pistons don’t deserve any moral victories. They need a real one this week to avoid being on the wrong side of history. However, Cunningham is doing his part.

It’s hard to see it now but, in the long run, it’ll count for something.

“We all have our ups and downs,” Cunningham said. “I’ve had my ups and downs throughout the year. There are more to come, but you have to keep your mind steady as best as you can. I just try to attack every day.

“Can’t hide, can’t run.”

(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)