Cade Cunningham has already checked plenty of boxes, but the version he showed in the playoffs pointed to something even bigger.
After earning 1st-team All-NBA honors last season and leading the Detroit Pistons to 60 wins and the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Cunningham still found another gear when the games got tighter. His overall growth was obvious across the board, with his efficiency around the rim and in the mid-range both climbing. The one area that lagged in the regular season was his 3-point shooting, but the postseason hinted at what could come next.
That’s the part that should have the rest of the league paying attention.
Cunningham already has the kind of size and strength that lets him get where he wants on the floor, and he has long been a problem in the mid-range. Last season, he also drew more foul shots, which made him even harder to keep out of the lane.
For a lot of his career, defenses were willing to live with the step-back 3 and play off him. That approach got a lot riskier in the playoffs.
In the regular season, Cunningham hit just 34 percent from 3-point range on 5.7 attempts per game. Both numbers were down from the year before.
Then the postseason arrived, and the shot volume jumped to more than seven 3s a night while he connected on over 40 percent of them. That surge helped push his playoff scoring to 28 points per game.
That’s the version of Cunningham that changes everything. When the 3-ball is falling, defenders can’t just sag and wait for him to drive.
He can punish closeouts, force teams to press up, and then use that space to attack. It’s a simple equation, but a brutal one for opponents.
The playoff sample was only 14 games, so there’s no reason to treat it like a finished product. But it wasn’t just the makes. Cunningham looked more assertive from deep and was clearly willing to keep firing when Orlando and Cleveland did a good job taking away the paint.
He should have more room to operate next season with better shooters around him, but the biggest swing factor is still in his hands. If he keeps taking and making 3s at that level, everything else in his game gets easier. That’s the evolution that can take him from great to nearly impossible to deal with.
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