Detroit Pistons: Will Cade Cunningham Lead The NBA In Assists?

Moving into his sixth season as a pro, Cade Cunningham has watched the Detroit Pistons run the gamut from the worst team in the NBA to the top seed in the Eastern Conference entering the 2026 postseason. As a former No. 1 overall pick out of Oklahoma State, Cunningham has grown immensely in the Motor City over the past handful of years, but the All-NBA floor general is still developing and adding new wrinkles to his game. This season, Cunningham will have a wealth of perimeter shooters at his disposal after the Pistons were not too aggressive but very active during the offseason. In the summertime, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon made deals to bring in Isaiah Joe, John Collins, Taurean Prince and Gary Harris— four vets who all connected on the deep ball at a 40% rate last year. With those marksmen joining Duncan Robinson on the outside, Cunningham will finally have a host of reliable shooters to hit with outlet passes. Towards the end of last season, Cunningham even stepped up his perimeter efficiency with a 40% rate in the playoffs once it became obvious that Detroit needed some help from long-range. What makes that trend even more impressive is that Cunningham was doing so right after returning from a collapsed lung that sidelined him for over three weeks at a crucial juncture in the calendar. But looking ahead, Cunningham could easily end the 2026-27 campaign with double-digit assists per game after finishing No. 2 in the NBA for that category last time around with 9.9 helpers each night. That assist total helped Cunningham make another All-Star squad at the midway point of the season (alongside Jalen Duren), but Detroit's star point guard is one of the rare elite playmakers with considerable two-way value. Standing at 6-6, Cunningham has the size and length to guard virtually any player one through three, which gives the Pistons an ample amount of flexibility given Ausar Thompson's defensive versatility as well. With both Cunningham and Thompson available to apply pressure at the perimeter, the Pistons were one of the more disruptive defenses in the NBA last season at the point of attack. Over the years, Cunningham has become well-known for his chase-down blocks in transition, and the two-way floor general posted 2.2 stocks to his credit last season. By any measure, Cunningham is one of the premier playmakers in the league today, but the Pistons failed to surround their star with enough scorers to take full advantage of his table-setting talents in the past. Langdon sought out to rectify that situation during the summer by landing a slew of consistent downtown shooters, so the thought process is that Cunningham will have more exit valves when the defense helps and closes in on him, which was a common scenario throughout the Pistons' second round series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the head of the snake in the Motor City, Cunningham understands that other teams look to nullify his impact as much as possible, but that process can work right into the All-Star's hands since it provides an opportunity to get his teammates involved. And last season, Cunningham nearly did so at a league-leading level, but he will have more weapons in order to finally climb the mountain as the NBA's assist king this season.