Cade Cunningham’s first goal with the Pistons fell by the wayside – the team didn’t go undefeated in the NBA summer league. But bigger goals await.
“I want to play playoff basketball my first year in,” Cunningham said during a recent interview with the Jalen & Jacoby Show. “I feel like that’s the only goal that I should have, is trying to bring the Pistons to be a playoff team my first year in. And I feel like that’s very attainable. With the young core that we got going right now and then adding me in, I feel like I can only help what they already have going for them.”
If Cunningham plays the way he did last week, the Pistons are poised to take a big step this season. The No. 1 overall pick scored 20 points against the Rockets in a duel with No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green, then hung 24 on the Knicks three days later, including seven three pointers. His performance earned him praise from ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, who named Cunningham one of nine standouts in summer league action.
Pelton noted Cunningham shot 50 percent from three (13-26) despite the deeper NBA arc and said “we’ve also seen Cunningham make plays for teammates that they’ve been unable to finish, something that should be less of an issue when starters Jerami Grant and Isaiah Stewart join the young Detroit core that’s been playing in summer league.”
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The Pistons rested Cunningham for their final two games due to calf soreness, but he said the three games in which he played allowed him to “get back in a rhythm, get back to being with teammates and leading guys and just playing the game I love. It was a lot of fun.”
Soon enough, the games will start to count. The results will decide if the fun continues.