Cade Cunningham had a Rookie of the Year-worthy resume.
He was only the 10th rookie in NBA history to average at least 17 points, five rebounds and five assists per game. And he did so with gusto.
Cunningham firmly established himself as the face of the Detroit Pistons, embracing his role of a go-to scorer and playmaker on the floor and leader and ambassador off of the floor. He lived up to the grand expectations placed on him as the first overall pick of a stacked draft.
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Yet, Cunningham finished third in the Rookie of the Year race, and was a distant third. Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes narrowly edged out Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley for the award. Barnes and Mobley were both deserving candidates because of their on-the-floor impact and raw numbers. The situations they were drafted into helped, too; Barnes’ Raptors won 48 games, and the Cavaliers won 44.
Both players thrived in their roles and are key reasons why the Raptors and Cavaliers were significantly better than they were last season. But they were also asked to do less than Cunningham, who unlike the other two did not play with one former All-Star.
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Cunningham appeared to be dinged by voters for playing for a Detroit team that didn’t have a realistic chance of making the playoffs. And despite the Pistons’ 23-59 overall record, they were significantly better with Cunningham in the lineup (20-44).
But in the grand scheme, it doesn’t matter. The Pistons made the right pick. Cunningham not only met expectations, but carried himself with a confidence and maturity that inspired both his teammates and the coaching staff and galvanized a weary Pistons fanbase that hasn’t experienced a playoff win in 14 years. His rookie season was dotted with triple-doubles, a highlight reels-worth of clutch buckets and tough shots, and numerous savvy quotes that have generated significant traffic on social media.
As Dwane Casey often said last season, Cunningham has “it.” He didn’t win Rookie of the Year, but it shouldn’t devalue his season.
Cunningham missed training camp, preseason and five the first six regular season games because of an ankle injury, and it took nearly a month before he found his offensive rhythm. But after Nov. 30, he averaged 18.8 points, 5.8 assists and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 43.7% overall and 34.4% from 3 — substantial improvements over his full-season averages of 41.6% and 31.4%, respectively. After All-Star break, he averaged 21.1 points, 6.5 assists and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 45.7% overall and 27.5% from 3. According to ESPN, Cunningham was only the sixth rookie since the NBA-ABA merger to average at least 20 points, five assists and five rebounds after the break.
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He thrived as Detroit’s most versatile scorer and playmaker. He was first amongst all rookies in points per game (17.4, narrowly edging out Jalen Green’s 17.3), second in assists (5.6) and fifth in rebounds (5.5). No other rookie scored more points in the clutch. And while Mobley and Barnes were also top-five in points per game and did so more efficiently than Cunningham, they didn’t have to carry the same offensive load. Cunningham led the Pistons in shot attempts, thrusted into the role as Jerami Grant battled injuries. Barnes and Mobley were both fifth overall in shot attempts for the Raptors and Cavaliers, respectively. Unlike Cunningham, they didn’t have to deal with defenses schemed solely around stopping them.
This isn’t to say Barnes didn’t deserve Rookie of the Year, or that Mobley shouldn’t have finished second. It’s tough to play winning basketball as a rookie, and even if Toronto and Cleveland finished with losing records, both players deserved to be in the conversation for the award. If winning and efficiency were the deciding factors for awards voters, it’s their right. It’s tougher to parse why three voters left Cunningham off of their ballots entirely, and one voter left off Mobley.
In a year, most people won’t care that Cunningham lost the award. Ask Minnesota Timberwolves fans if they still care that Anthony Edwards, who firmly established himself as their second-best player and helped lead the team to their first playoff appearance in four years, lost Rookie of the Year to LaMelo Ball. Ask Boston Celtics fans if they care that Jayson Tatum finished third behind Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell.
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The Timberwolves are in the playoffs, and the Hornets lost two play-in games. Tatum is the best player on a championship-caliber team. Mitchell’s Utah Jazz are in a first-round battle with the Dallas Mavericks, and Simmons has yet to make his season debut for the Brooklyn Nets after forcing his way out of Philadelphia, the city that drafted him.
Cunningham was a deserving Rookie of the Year. He didn’t win the award, and Detroit’s lack of wins were a factor. But his career with the Pistons will be defined by the number of wins he delivers in the future.
“I play to win,” he said in March. “There’s a lot of guys that play to win in this league, but not everybody that’s super talented does that. Just the way that I play, the way that I compete, it shows that and I try to put my team first. And sometimes in that, I try to help my team by me going and doing it myself. My teammates encourage that. They allow me to go be me. The fact that I’m doing what I’m doing, I think my game will speak for itself.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.