The future looks bright for the Detroit Pistons. They might have ended their season early with a 4-2 loss against the New York Knicks, but their first postseason appearance in the Cade Cunningham era, being an automatic postseason berth, promised a bright future to Motor City’s basketball faithful.
Cunningham is at the heart of the buzz surrounding Detroit basketball in the past couple of seasons. The combo guard played a crucial role in the Pistons’ incredible rise this season. His impressive growth throughout the years finally bore fruit, with the first (of hopefully many) All-Star nods given to the 23-year-old star.
While Pistons fans are excited with the future they’ll have with Cunningham, the team may not share their excitement at the same degree. According to one analyst, there might be one reason why the front office aren’t eager to see their star man get the recognition he deserves.
Cade Cunningham’s potential All-NBA inclusion may hamper the Detroit Pistons’ offseason plans
Cunningham’s stats for the year will likely bag him a spot in an All-NBA team this season, and that would spell trouble for the team’s rebuilding process.
Per Newsweek’s Alex Kirschenbaum:
If Cunningham does earn such an honor for his play, however, his impending maximum rookie scale contract extension would rocket up a bit.
He’s currently slated to earn 25 percent of the league’s cap — but making an All-NBA team will increase his salary rate to 30 percent of the cap when it kicks in next year.
More cap space elsewhere on the roster would enable the Pistons to build around Cunningham more effectively, although surely Detroit would concede he deserves the raise.
Detroit will have quite an offseason to rebuild its roster as the 2025-26 roster will see a couple of names out of the squad. Malik Beaasley, Dennis Schroeder, and Tim Hardaway Jr. will leave a huge hole in their guard rotation if they decide against bringing any of them back in the summer.
Cunningham getting the All-NBA nod will leave the team with little to no room to bring over quality players. It’s likely the front office willl let one or two of the three walk if Cade does get his first All-NBA nod. They may have to take a Moneyball approach in free agency or find an underrated contributor in the 2025 draft class.
However, it’s Cunningham may have reached a level where he’s talented enough to attract quality players to Detroit. He enjoyed a career year, averaging 26.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 9.1 assists on 47% shooting and 36% from deep.
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