Cade Cunningham is already playing like a franchise cornerstone for the Detroit Pistons, but one new projection suggests his ceiling might be even higher than that.
During the 2025-26 regular season, Cunningham logged 64 games and put up 23.9 points, 9.9 assists and 5.5 rebounds per night. Those are the kind of numbers that put a player firmly in the league’s upper tier right now. Still, the bigger takeaway from a new Bleacher Report feature is what Cunningham could look like a few years down the road.
On Monday, Andy Bailey ranked the 30 best NBA players in 2030, and Cunningham landed all the way up at No. 7. Bailey didn’t just place him in the top 10 - he suggested Cunningham could be in the middle of the MVP conversation by then.
"What has to be truly terrifying for opponents around the league is the fact that Cade has some very obvious areas for improvement," Bailey states in the piece.
He adds: "Over the next four years, he can absolutely figure out how to take a little better care of the ball and more consistently hit from the outside. Fine-tuning that, while maintaining his volume playmaking could have Cunningham in some pretty heated MVP discussions."
That kind of projection only makes sense when you look at what Cunningham already did in the 2026 NBA playoffs. Over 14 games, he averaged 28.1 points, 7.5 assists and 5.1 rebounds, according to StatMuse. He also played 41 minutes per game, a massive workload that says plenty about how much Detroit leaned on him.
If the Pistons can lighten that burden and give him more support, Cunningham’s game could keep climbing fast. And if Bailey’s projection proves right, Detroit fans may be watching the early stages of an even bigger rise.
In Other News...
Pistons May Already Have Their Second Unit Answer In House
With Caris LeVert gone, the Pistons are left sorting out who handles the extra playmaking work for the second unit, and Kevin Huerter has quickly become the name to watch. He arrived at the trade deadline last season and, even in a limited sample, showed enough offensive and defensive value to make the bench look more functional when he was on the floor.
Huerters case is tied to health as much as role, since his first stretch in Detroit came while he was battling hip and adductor issues. Daniss Jenkins also gives the Pistons another backup point guard option, but the bigger question now is how much of the second-unit offense Huerter can shoulder once he is fully available. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Still Left Cade Cunningham With The Same Huge Question
Detroit added depth and draft capital in the six-team deal, bringing in John Collins, Isaiah Joe, Taurean Prince and Gary Harris, but the move still left the same basic problem hanging over the roster. None of those additions is the kind of second star or primary creator Cade Cunningham needs, and the front office also used the 17th pick on Ebuka Okorie without really solving the immediate playmaking issue.
For a team trying to move from promising to dangerous, that leaves the Cunningham-Jalen Duren-Ausar Thompson core with the same awkward questions about shooting, shot creation and overall offensive punch. Trajan Langdon has bought himself some flexibility, but another playoff stumble would only sharpen the scrutiny on whether he is the right person to find Cunningham a true No. 2. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons May Have One Unexpected Shot To Finally Help Cade
Detroits search for a real offseason boost around Cade Cunningham has been stuck in the same familiar place: limited cap room, few clean paths and a market that has not exactly broken the Pistons way. That is why the conversation keeps circling back to possible value plays, the kind of move that does not require a full reset of the roster but could still give Cunningham a more workable supporting cast.
Jonathan Kuminga fits that conversation better than most, even if Detroit has not been officially tied to him. The appeal is obvious enough - a young, talented wing who might be reachable on a prove-it arrangement, with a sign-and-trade as one possible route if the market develops that way. For a team still trying to find the right next step, the question is whether this is the rare swing worth taking. [Read more 🡒]