Browsing: Cade

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  André SnellingsOct 28, 2025, 10:33 AM ET

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  Dr. André Snellings is a senior writer for men’s and women’s fantasy basketball and sports betting at ESPN. André has a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Michigan. He joined ESPN in 2017 after a 16-year career as a neural engineer, during which time he was also a writer and analyst for Rotowire.

Does Cade Cunningham’s production make him an MVP candidate?

Two years ago, I wrote an article asking this same question about a different young guard. And the similarities were striking.

In 2023, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was coming off a season where he had led a team most believed was lottery-bound to a playoff run. Gilgeous-Alexander had posted great numbers while doing so, in what was the first largely healthy season of his prime. And early in the 2023-24 season, he had the eighth-shortest MVP odds, according to ESPN BET.

Fast-forward to today, and Cunningham is coming off a season in which he led his previously lottery-bound Detroit Pistons to the playoffs. This was the first time in his career that Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft, was able to play in more than 64 games in a season. Now, a week into the season, Cunningham has the seventh-shortest MVP odds (60-1), according to ESPN BET.

Is Cunningham actually a viable MVP candidate for this season?

In the above example, SGA went on to finish second in the 2023-24 MVP race and many thought he should have won. That helped pave the way for him to come back and win the 2024-25 MVP. Is Cunningham on that same path?

First, let’s look at Cunningham’s competition and what he would need to produce individually to get himself in the MVP conversation.

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Per ESPN BET, the favorites to win this season’s MVP are Gilgeous-Alexander (+225), Victor Wembanyama (+275) and Nikola Jokic (+375).

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, led the NBA in scoring last season, averaging 32.7 PPG, 6.4 APG and 5.0 RPG.

Wembanyama was arguably the most anticipated player in NBA history when he entered the league just over two years ago, and through the first week of the season he is living up to the expectations with averages of 33.3 PPG, 13.3 RPG and 6.0 (!) BPG. If he maintains this pace, it may be hard for anyone else to win MVP this season.

Jokic, who has finished top-2 in the MVP vote in five straight seasons, winning three of them, is fresh off becoming the first center in NBA history to average a triple-double for a full season. He also became the first player in NBA history to finish top-4 in each of points, assists, rebounds and steals per game in the same season with averages of 29.6 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 10.2 APG and 2.0 SPG.

Cunningham’s last-season averages of 26.1 PPG, 9.1 APG and 6.1 RPG, while impressive, are not on the same level. That said, Cunningham’s hope is that he has improved his scoring and assists per game averages in every season of his career, and the amount in which he has improved has increased each season.

Statistical improvementPPGAPGGoing from season 1-22.50.4Going from season 2-32.81.5Going from season 3-43.41.6

If Cunningham can make similar improvements this season, by 3.9 PPG and just 0.9 APG, he would become only the fourth player in NBA history to average 30 PPG and 10 APG. The first was former MVP Oscar Robertson. The most recent was former MVP Russell Westbrook. If Cunningham can get his numbers to this level, they would at least be in the same conversation with the video game-like numbers of the other main candidates.

But there’s another main area to look — Cunningham’s impact on winning.

How does Cunningham’s presence translate to Pistons success?

Last season, Gilgeous-Alexander had the second-best on-court/off-court plus-minus (on/off +/-) in the NBA, with the Thunder 17.5 points per 100 possessions (PP100) better with him on-court than when he was off. And he did this for a Thunder squad with the best record in the NBA at 68-14.

Jokic, last season, had the best on/off +/- in the NBA at +19.0 PP100, the fourth straight season his on/off +/- was more than 16 PP100. But the Nuggets’ record slid a bit, down to 50-32 after they’d gone 57-25 the season before when Jokic won his third MVP.

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Cunningham’s on/off +/- last season was only +3.4 PP100, but it was on a Pistons team that improved from 14-68 the season before the 44-38. To seriously get into the MVP race this season, Cunningham is going to need to generate a double-digits on/off +/- and the Pistons will likely need to win at least 55-60 games.

That last is likely to be the most difficult, but in the Eastern Conference the Pistons do have a chance to get to the top. With Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton, the best players respectively on the last two teams to win the Eastern Conference, both out injured the East is wide open this season. If the Pistons can improve from the fifth seed last season to the top seed this season, regardless of their record, Cunningham will get some MVP buzz.

Cunningham has work to do to be a top MVP candidate this season

While Cunningham still has ground to make up to enter the same realm as those Wembanyama, SGA and Jokic, his numbers and the Pistons’ improvement arc suggests it is possible.

The most recent MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander, had a very similar improvement arc two seasons ago. With Cunningham getting long odds at 60-1, there is some lottery-ticket value in betting on him.

The most likely outcome is that it will take another couple seasons for Cunningham to really get into the highest level, but the unique circumstances in the East give Cunningham at least a fighting chance to break into the top-5 or better in the MVP vote this season.

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Every NBA star has a moment, a declaration on the biggest stage. Often, that stage happens to be in one of the most iconic arenas in the league, Madison Square Garden.

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham didn’t realize his moment was coming, but when an errant pass by New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson drifted his way, the only thing standing between him and that moment was swingman Mikal Bridges bearing down for a steal. Three seconds and one behind-the-back dribble later, Cunningham found himself at the rim for two of his 33 points in Detroit’s Game 2 victory in last season’s playoffs, the Pistons’ first postseason win since 2008.

Shortly after that third-quarter dunk, he locked eyes with the author of his own share of Garden memories: Carmelo Anthony.

Cunningham didn’t necessarily need approval from the Hall of Famer. After all, he had just become a first-time All-Star and the driving force in snapping Detroit’s five-season playoff drought, a stretch of futility that included a league-record 28 consecutive losses in the first half of the 2023-24 season. But Cunningham wanted Anthony to know something, as he pointed at the Knicks legend on the way back downcourt.

Here I am.

“I didn’t have a celebration in mind or anything, but I was hyped. It’s Carmelo Anthony right there in front of me,” Cunningham told ESPN earlier this month. “One of my all-time favorite players. I wanted to make sure that he saw that.”

“To be in the arena, the biggest stage in the world. I thought that was a cool moment.”

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Little by little, Cunningham, the 2021 No. 1 draft pick, has been finding more of these moments. There was his game winner against the Atlanta Hawks last November, punctuated by a help-side block at the buzzer. There was his clock-beating 3-pointer on the road against the Miami Heat in March, when he walked down center Bam Adebayo before hitting the shot and told the Miami crowd to put some “respect” on his name.

At 24, Cunningham is still one of the younger members of a Pistons team built around its star and on the rise in a wide-open Eastern Conference. But any chance Detroit has to evolve from upstart to true contender will hinge on how far its dynamic 6-foot-6 guard can take his game. Will that require an MVP-level season in Motown? Cunningham, for his part, isn’t running away from the idea.

“If I can help get this team to where my goal is to get this team this season, all this stuff will be on the way,” Cunningham said. “I’m not shy to say that. I think that’s very possible.”

CUNNINGHAM WAS A finalist for Most Improved Player last season, but it seemed a bit misplaced.

Since the award’s inception in 1986, only Milwaukee Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2017 has gone on to win MVP. Most Improved winners have traditionally been lottery picks who’ve gone from underachiever to major contributor or unheralded players enjoying a breakthrough season.

Cunningham, however, wasn’t exactly eager to join those ranks.

“Most Improved Player was, I think, a great honor to be considered for,” Cunningham said of the award that went to the Hawks’ Dyson Daniels. “It shows whoever improved the most from year to year. It says a lot about how much work you put in.”

“[But] I think of myself as somebody that should be considered at the highest level, and that’s what I work for every day. I wasn’t heartbroken to not win.”

Nor did he bristle when the past several MVPs were named — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Antetokounmpo — fully aware of the inference. Cunningham would be the youngest MVP since Derrick Rose in 2011, and the first No. 1 pick to win since LeBron James in 2013. He finished seventh in the final MVP voting last season.

Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images

Cunningham knows the commonality is team success combined with individual stats. Discounting pandemic-shortened seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21, teams of the past six MVP winners have averaged 58.6 wins. For the Pistons, whose 44 wins last season already matched the franchise’s most since 2007-08, it would take another massive leap for Cunningham to get there. And that would mean the Pistons become true contenders, not just mere upstarts.

“[Winning] Finals MVP, I’d be way happier about that than an MVP,” Cunningham said. “Basketball is a team game. To be the MVP, you have to be valuable to your team. And that can look so many different ways. If you’re the best player in the world, you’re probably going to have the best team in the world.”

Cannen Cunningham, Cade’s older brother by eight years, isn’t surprised that MVP is on the list of Cade’s aspirations. He remembers Cade saying he wanted to be the No. 1 pick, and then later, that he wanted to be the best player in the world.

“He’s not cocky or anything,” Cannen said. “He just has this belief in himself.”

It has benefitted the franchise to date.

The Pistons have invested big into Cunningham, going far beyond the rookie-scale max extension (five years, $269 million) he agreed to in summer 2024. For team owner Tom Gores, the qualities he saw in Cunningham during the organization’s record losing streak in 2023-24 only reinforced that decision.

“When we were at our lowest, the man didn’t blink,” Gores told ESPN. “He continued to work, continued to pat his players on the back. That’s when I knew this guy’s character was something special.

“You learn the most from anyone in life during the tough times. The way I saw him functioning, [behaving] when things were emotional, what he did when we were down.”

Cunningham blossomed last season, partially due to the structure created by team president Trajan Langdon and coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Spacing had been gummed up in Cunningham’s first couple of seasons, so the priority was signing shooters Tim Hardaway Jr. (168 3s) and Malik Beasley (319) to operate while Cunningham commanded the attention of defenses.

But after only one season together, Hardaway signed with the Denver Nuggets last offseason and Beasley is currently under federal investigation for alleged gambling and not rostered. Detroit wasted no time finding a replacement this summer, acquiring sharp-shooting forward Duncan Robinson in a sign-and-trade with Miami on the first day of free agency.

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The Pistons’ young core, meanwhile, complements its point guard in different ways.

Jalen Duren is a rim-running lob threat who vacations and works out with Cunningham in the offseason, and that connection looks intact. Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland are pests on defense and can get out in the open floor. (And Thompson has developed as a secondary playmaker to enable Cunningham to play more off the ball.)

He and his teammates are close in age. He’s a few months older than Jaden Ivey, a few months younger than the longest-tenured Piston, Isaiah Stewart, and two years older than Duren and Thompson.

“We had a [team] event, and the next day was his birthday,” Tobias Harris, Detroit’s oldest player at 33, told ESPN. “I asked him how old he was turning and he said 24. In my mind, I thought he was 28. He’s just so mature, and it translates to on the floor with his leadership. He’s got that dog, that competitive spirit, but he’s also really about it — about the work.”

Up and down the roster, all agree without conflict on the hierarchy, with Cunningham at the top.

“It is a heavy burden, and it’s a burden that you don’t get days off from,” Bickerstaff told ESPN. “When you are that guy, you don’t get to take days off. Because every single day, everybody around you is watching.”

THE LASTING IMAGEfrom the end of Detroit’s breakthrough season? Heartbreak, with Brunson closing out the Pistons on their home floor in the first round, preventing what would’ve been an electric Game 7 inside Madison Square Garden. Bickerstaff won’t watch it, the memory is etched in his mind. Cunningham will catch it in spurts.

“I watched it a couple times,” Cunningham said. “There’s moments where I’ll fast forward when I know it’s something that I don’t want to see coming up, but I think it’s just part of the learning experience.”

The callouses form the character of the team and its leader.

“Even teams that have made big deals to bring in superstar players, you know, they have to go through some stuff,” Bickerstaff said. “To learn from, to find that extra motivation to understand the importance of everything, the details. When you lose a game like that in the playoffs, it burns even more.”

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The Pistons have only had two coaches who’ve lasted longer than four seasons in franchise history (Chuck Daly, Dwane Casey). For Bickerstaff to join that short list, his relationship with Cunningham must be in lockstep — not too dissimilar from what Gilgeous-Alexander has in Oklahoma City with Mark Daigneault or what Stephen Curry has enjoyed for a decade with Steve Kerr.

“Build trust, build respect,” Bickerstaff said. “Our words have to be the same, our emotions have to be the same, our commitments have to be the same in order for both of us to get to where we want to get to.

“But beyond that, he’s such a good dude that you want to have a relationship with him. That’s bigger than basketball, and that’s what I’m trying to build with him.”

Last summer, Bickerstaff challenged his star to prepare for more physicality from defenses, almost predicting what the start of this season would look like. Defenses have indeed trapped Cunningham often throughout the first week of the season, and the intensity has increased. (Cunningham now sports a welt underneath his right eye, courtesy of being whacked by one of the Celtics’ big men in a comeback win in the Pistons’ home opener.)

“Efficiency” has become Cunningham’s next goal, according to Bickerstaff. “The Carmelo Anthonys, the Kevin Durants of the world, you got moves quick enough [that] the double teams can’t get to — because in playoff situations you’re going to see more crowds, more double teams.”

Cunningham also believes he has the size and know-how to defend some of the league’s best. Bickerstaff also wants Cunningham in elite shape.

The expectations are lofty, but they don’t seem impossible on a team that’s increasingly ascending, in a conference that’s asking for a team to challenge the Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.

“You don’t get put in MVP conversations if your team isn’t winning at a high level, and that’s the important thing for him,” Bickerstaff said. “Everyone knows he’s a superstar. Once you lift an organization [to] that high level, that’s when they start to put you in the MVP category.”

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  Jesse RogersSep 27, 2025, 02:24 PM ET

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  Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.

CHICAGO — The Cubs placed right-hander Cade Horton on the 15-day injured list Saturday because of a rib fracture, the team announced, eliminating any chance of him pitching in the wild-card round next week.

Horton, 24, initially injured himself coughing while ill last week in Cincinnati. He left his last start Tuesday after two innings.

Imaging showed an issue in his back/rib area, but the Cubs thought they could move forward despite the ailment. Horton played catch Friday and Saturday before the Cubs said he would be put on the injured list.

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“He went out and threw today. He could really feel the rib. There was discomfort,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “He couldn’t let it go and pitch the way he needed to.”

Horton had emerged as the Cubs’ best starter despite being a rookie. He was 8-1 with a 1.03 ERA in 12 second-half starts before leaving his final outing early on Tuesday against the Mets. He is the favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year award but won’t be eligible to pitch in the postseason until at least Game 5 of the division series.

Hoyer said he didn’t have an exact timeline for Horton’s return.

The Cubs will face the San Diego Padres in the wild-card round, beginning Tuesday. Horton was a possible Game 1 starter, which means the Cubs are likely to turn to Matthew Boyd for that role with Shota Imanaga also in play. Right-handers Jameson Taillon or Colin Rea could get a start as well after both have had strong finishes to the season.

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Sep 25, 2025, 07:41 PM ET

CHICAGO — The Cubs were still evaluating the extent of starter Cade Horton’s back injury on Thursday, leaving the National League Rookie of the Year candidate’s status for the wild-card playoff series in question.

Manager Craig Counsell said “Cade is on track still,” though an MRI on Wednesday showed “some areas of concern” in the ribs.

“Right now, Cade is a go,” Counsell said, adding that Horton is “adament he can pitch.”

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Counsell said another physician will look at the imaging. Horton is scheduled to resume throwing on Friday after being off the past two days.

“We want to make sure we use this time to let Cade tell us how he feels, let Cade show us how he feels, consult our doctors and let them make recommendations and get the best decision we can make,” Counsell said.

Chicago will play the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League wild-card series on Tuesday. The Cubs’ magic number for clinching the top wild-card spot — and homefield advantage in the first round — was at two over Padres entering Thursday’s game against the playoff-contending New York Mets.

Horton is 11-4 in 22 starts and 23 appearances. The 24-year-old right-hander has a 2.67 ERA that ranks second among qualified rookies.

Horton left Tuesday’s start against New York after three innings due to back tightness. He was sick following his previous start and had been coughing, which led to the issues in the back and ribs.

Counsell said the Cubs won’t announce their postseason rotation until next week.

“We’re at this phase where we’re starting to put plans into place,” Counsell said. “We have multiple ones. We’ve got four baseball games left, which affects things.”

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CHICAGO — Cubs rookie starter Cade Horton has been almost unhittable since the All-Star break.In fact, for the first five…