The Detroit Pistons have been consistently winning throughout the 2025-26 season, currently sitting at 45-14 ahead of Tuesday night's big game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pistons are led by point guard Cade Cunningham, who has started to earn some legit MVP buzz in recent weeks due to the injury absences of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, which have put their awards eligibility in jeopardy.
Recently, Cunningham was announced the Eastern Conference Player of the Month by the NBA, and as the Pistons noted on X, formerly Twitter, he is the only player in the league to accomplish that feat twice this season.
It's been a breakout campaign for the point guard in 2025-26. Cunningham was already regarded as one of the top guards in the league heading into this year, but he has found ways to take his game to a new level this season, allowing the Pistons to vault to the top of the Eastern Conference standings despite not having any other proven playmakers on the perimeter.
With this being the case, there have been concerns that Cunningham's lack of a reliable supporting cast might come back to bite Detroit come playoff time, with the team largely opting to remain quiet over the recent NBA trade deadline.
However, the good news is that Cunningham's physical brand of basketball should largely carry over to a playoff setting, even as he was somewhat up and down during his postseason debut last year in a tough loss to the New York Knicks in six games.
Also helping matters is the fact that Detroit is among the best defensive teams in the league, a fact that will certainly help them out come playoff time.
In any case, the Pistons and Cavaliers are slated to tip things off on Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm ET from Cleveland.
