Cade Cunningham could be making a compelling case to be a frontrunner in the MVP discussion this year after leading the Pistons to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference just 26 games into the regular season. Even over other All-Star names like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic.
Former NBA champion Jeff Teague recently recorded an episode of his ‘Club 520’ podcast where he made a convincing argument for why Cunningham deserves the award over those other names.
“I wanted to say I apologize to the Detroit fans because I’ve been a Detroit fan since last year. I was the first one on the bandwagon or whatever. But I said he was out of the MVP conversation, and that’s a lie.”
“Yeah, that’s a lie. He’s the frontrunner for the MVP. Because on his team, he has no other star. Everybody else got legit stars on their team. He’s the only star,” said Teague.
“Nobody else on their team is going to be even considered. I mean Durant, Duren, whatever his name is [Jalen Duren]. He might be considered for an All-Star this year, but it ain’t like guaranteed.”
“He’s [Cunningham] the only guaranteed bona fide star on that team. Everybody else, Jalen Williams, all defensive, all NBA, Shai, Chet. LeBron, Luka, Austin Reaves, everybody got considerations,” Teague further added.
“Because he could get in an argument with KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns], like you know what I mean? It could be him and KAT [primary MVP contenders from the East].”
“It could be him and whoever else is left in the East. Giannis or whatever. You know, Giannis has been out. He might get lost in it or whatever. He is the only bona fide star, and he got this team one of the top teams in the whole league. They got five losses.”
“He definitely should be in the top one or two in MVP. For me, No. 1 is just because he doesn’t have any help. And I’m not disrespecting they seem. I’m just saying, as far as like stars,” concluded Teague.
Cunningham is currently averaging 27.1 points, 9.2 assists, and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 45.7% from the field and 32.7% from the three-point line.
These might not be numbers that are higher than what his competitors for the MVP race are producing. But he is efficiently leading a team to the top of the Eastern Conference without another household name on the roster, which does count for something.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has an All-Star teammate in Jalen Williams. Even the Serbian superstar Nikola Jokic has the veteran star guard Jamal Murray. And Luka Doncic, of course, has the 21-time All-Star, LeBron James.
One of the most controversial cases for an MVP award in modern NBA history was Steve Nash’s wins over Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in 2004-05 and 2005-06. And in both those seasons, he led the Suns to the top of the Western Conference with his efficiency (50-40-90 club performances) and led the league in assists.
The case here for Cunningham is that, if the regular season were to end today, and the Pistons are the No. 1 seed in the East without him having as much help on his team, then he deserves credit for managing to do it without leading the league in any exceptional statistical category.
I am inclined to agree with Teague solely in the case that either of the other players he mentioned doesn’t end up taking the No. 1 seed in the West. Because if that happens, then individual performances should be factored in much more while deciding who will receive the Michael Jordan trophy.
Since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is currently averaging 32.4 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 56.0% from the field. And Luka Doncic is averaging 34.7 points, 8.8 assists, and 8.7 rebounds while hitting 46.0% of his shots from the field.
Both these players individually seem to be better than Cunningham presently. Do you agree with Teague and my rationale here? Let us know in the comments section.
