John Niyo: Pistons' Cade Cunningham makes his All-Star case -- with an assist

DETROIT — Yes, of course, he’s a better player now.

Cade Cunningham won’t be the first person to tell you that. That’s not really his nature. But he won’t deny it, either.

What he will tell you next, though, says a bit more about this star turn — an All-Star turn, perhaps — that we’re seeing from the Pistons’ floor leader in his fourth NBA season.

“I've grown, for sure,” Cunningham said Monday night, after recording his sixth triple-double of the season in a wild 125-124 overtime win over the Miami Heat. “But I gotta give that credit to my teammates. They make it easy on me.”

And as easy as it might be to dismiss that as just another deflection, the kind a franchise cornerstone uses to help bring a team together, what you’re also hearing there is Cunningham breathing a sigh of relief.

That’s because he’s surrounded by the kind of team — and the type of talent — that’ll allow him to show his full potential as a former No. 1 overall pick, and he knows it. From the floor-spacing shooters and engaged veterans to the hustling, bustling young wings and a head coach that actually wants to be here, Cunningham finally finds himself in an ecosystem where he can thrive.

Take the overtime period Monday, after the Pistons had managed to blow a 19-point lead over the final 14 minutes of regulation.

“I mean, in the way of the Detroit Pistons, right?” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff joked afterward. “That's what we do: We find ourselves in close games.”

But here they were in extra time, suddenly trailing by eight, and the fans who’d been on their feet at the end of regulation were now rising to put on their coats and head for the exits. “We were dead in the water,” Bickerstaff said, nodding.

Right up until Cunningham sent a pass to Tim Hardaway Jr. on the left wing, where he turned and drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to five. After a stop, Cunningham grabbed the rebound — his 10th of the night — dribbled up court, drew a double team and then found Hardaway to his right for another open 3. The lead was now two.

Miami called a timeout, but the Pistons got another stop. Then Cunningham grabbed another rebound off Tyler Herro’s miss, and even before he’d crossed midcourt, he fired a pass to Hardaway hustling up the left wing again. His leaning 3-pointer was good, and the crowd erupted as the Pistons regained the lead.

The Heat’s Jimmy Butler would quiet the arena briefly with a second-chance layup on the next possession. But Cunningham took matters into his own hands at the other end, powering his way past Terry Rozier Jr. for a layup over Bam Adebayo’s block attempt with 37.1 seconds left. And that proved to be the winner, capping another stellar night for Cunningham — 20 points, 18 assists, 11 rebounds — in a season where they’re multiplying quickly.

Only Nikola Jokic (10) and LeBron James (seven) have more triple-doubles in the NBA this season, by the way. And while those two have a combined seven league MVP awards between them, Cunningham is merely scratching the surface here at age 23 with the equivalent of only two full seasons (161 games played) under his belt.

“I mean, he's the complete package as an offensive basketball player,” Bickerstaff said.

But until now, the delivery system has been a disaster in Detroit, culminating in last season’s return-to-sender fiasco that produced another regime change and the start of another roster overhaul. New team president Trajan Langdon brought in reliable vets and proven shooters like Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Hardaway in order to “put a group around Cade that can bolster his growth," as Langdon explained this summer, "and not make it as hard for him to do the things that he had to do” in his first three NBA seasons.

A leg injury wiped out the second of those, obviously, but on either side of that lost year, Cunningham did show everyone why he was the cut-above choice for the Pistons when they won the 2021 draft lottery. His court vision and his ability to manipulate the floor are rare. His passing and touch set him apart as well, even in today's NBA. And his self-awareness, on and off the court, is why former GM Troy Weaver called him the “human connector.”

“He's got a high understanding of what the game needs, moment to moment, and how the teams are defending him,” Bickerstaff said of Cunningham, whom the Pistons signed to a maximum rookie contract extension (five years, $224 million) in July. “He's far and above his age and experience in understanding what the opponents are trying to take away, and what they're trying to do, and how he can exploit that.”

That’s what he did again in Monday’s win, albeit with a little help from his friends. The Pistons tied their season high with 20 made 3-pointers against the Heat, and Cunningham drew the assist on half of those. Beasley, who replaced Jaden Ivey in the starting lineup, was 7 of 13 from three — he’s shooting 41.4% from deep this season — while Hardaway was 5 for 10 after that overtime onslaught. And year over year, the Pistons have improved from 26th to 15th in the NBA in three-point percentage.

“They find spots, they talk to me, they get themselves open for me and allow me to hit them, and they make shots,” said Cunningham, who hit 3 of 6 3s himself and now has set a career-best for assists in three of his last four games. “So I'm trying to grow every day, as far as cleaning up turnovers and just getting everybody involved in the spots that they want. But they make it easy on me — all that credit goes to them and the coaching staff.”

Not all of it will, though. That’s how this works. And now that Cunningham’s filling up the stat sheet on a nightly basis, the rest of the league is taking note.

Earning his first All-Star nod this winter won’t be easy in a crowded Eastern Conference backcourt. But that show-stopping performance in a recent win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden (29 points, 10 rebounds, 15 assists) won’t hurt. Neither will a profile that shows Cunningham ranks second in assists (9.7 per game) and rebounds (7.5) and seventh in scoring (23.5) among guards in the East. (Only a handful of NBA players at any position have ever posted those averages for a full season: Jokic, James, Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.)

Also important: The Pistons aren’t mired at the bottom of the league standings anymore. In fact, Monday’s win over the Heat, which started without Harris (thumb) or Ivey (knee) in the lineup and ended with Isaiah Stewart (knee) out as well, moved Detroit into 10th place in the East — the final play-in spot for the postseason — with one-third of the schedule completed.

“Yeah, we’ve got a bunch of tough-minded guys, a bunch of guys that are hungry,” Cunningham said, smiling. “I think that's what makes it so fun to play with this group. Coach, he's the same way. He's hungry, he's tough-minded, and he instills that in us. We're playing hard for him. We’ve got a long way to go. But I like the way we’ve started.”

And it almost goes without saying, but he loves that he’s surrounded by teammates who are ready — and able — to help him finish what he’s started.

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