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Cade Cunningham has been having an unbelievable season with the Detroit Pistons. The 23-year-old has been the leader of the Pistons all season, and he should be hearing his name called as a first-time All-Star since he has already helped Detroit surpass their 14 wins from last season. Although this season has been full of positive records and accolades for Cade, he has unfortunately been on the wrong side of NBA history in recent games due to his turnovers.
If there is one area of Cunningham's game that sticks out as a weakness, it's definitely his turnover average. In 40 games, Cunningham has averaged a career-high 4.7 turnovers per game, and he leads the league with 187 total turnovers. While the Pistons have won back-to-back road games over the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks, Cunningham's turnovers have continued to cause problems.
Despite leading the team in scoring and to two key victories in order to get the Pistons to 23-21 overall this season, Cunningham has recorded back-to-back games with double-digit turnovers. After having 10 turnovers against the Rockets on Monday, Cunningham followed this performance up with 10 more turnovers on Wednesday night in Atlanta.
As a result, Cunningham is the first player in NBA history since the league started tracking turnovers in 1977-78 to record double-digit turnovers in back-to-back games. However, since Detroit ended up with victories in both of these matchups, Cade's misfortunes are definitely going to be overlooked.
Last night, Cade Cunningham became the first player since the NBA started tracking turnovers in 1977-78 to record double-digit turnovers in back-to-back games 🤯
10 — vs. Hawks
10 — vs. RocketsBoth games however resulted in wins for the Pistons 🙌
(via @Stathead) pic.twitter.com/6cB2E4iRD3
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 23, 2025
The Pistons have been having an incredible season to this point. Following their most recent win over the Hawks, Detroit is now in sole possession of the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference right before the NBA trade deadline and the All-Star break.
Nobody thought that the Pistons would be in playoff contention following a 14-win season, yet here we are talking about this team potentially being buyers at the trade deadline because of how good Cunningham has been. While reflecting on their 114-104 win over the Hawks, head coach JB Bickerstaff offered insight relating to the team's mindset during their stretch of success.
“There's an understanding of what's at stake, and there's an understanding of who we are. This team is at its best when we're having fun,” Bickerstaff stated. “There's a lesson to be learned in having too much fun, which is where I thought we ended the game. We could've been much more sound with some of the decisions and plays we were trying to make.
“When this team plays with a collective joy, we have an opportunity to win basketball games.”
While Cunningham may play a little too free at times, resulting in his lackluster mistakes, the Pistons are still finding ways to win games and remain competitive in the Eastern Conference standings. Cunningham may have made history he doesn't wish to be a part of with his 20 turnovers over the last two games, but as long as the Pistons are winning, the young guard can find peace in the situation.
