The NBA Players Association has some words to say about Cade Cunningham’s award eligibility.
Cunningham has played 61 games this season, but a collapsed lung might hold him from reaching the 65-game threshold required to be considered for major awards like MVP and the All-NBA team.
ESPN reported last week that the injury could sideline him for an “extended period of time” and that he’d be re-evaluated in two weeks.
He also narrowly misses the 62-game injury exception for season-ending injuries, which goes into effect if players play more than 85 percent of their team’s games before the injury and reach 62 contests.
“Cade Cunningham’s potential ineligibility for [end of] season awards after a career-defining season is a clear indictment of the 65-game rule and yet another example of why it must be abolished or reformed to create an exception for significant injuries. Since its implementation, far too many deserving players have been unfairly disqualified from end-of-season honors by this arbitrary and overly rigid quota.” the NBAPA’s statement read, as first reported by The AP.
Cunningham is averaging 24.5 points, 9.9 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game this season while shooting 46.1 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent from 3-point range
“Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season,” Cunningham’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, told ESPN. “If he falls just short of an arbitrary games-played threshold due to legitimate injury, it should not disqualify him from recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season. The league should be rewarding excellence, not enforcing rigid cutoffs that ignore context. An exception needs to be made.”
His success has helped the Pistons to a 52-19 record, the best team in the Eastern Conference. Detroit sits five games ahead of the No. 2 seed Celtics in the conference and eight games ahead of the Cavaliers in the Central Division.
But Cunningham’s injury could hamper the Pistons as they finish out the regular season.
“Obviously, it’s tough,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Thursday. “Tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now. How important he is to the team, how important being with his team is to him doesn’t make it easy. He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint.”
Across five years with the Pistons since being drafted with the first overall pick in 2021, Cunningham has proved his worth.
He’s averaging 22.6 points for his career, including a career-high 26.1 mark last season. He also snagged his first two All-Star selections in the last two years while finishing seventh in MVP voting in 2024-25.
Now, potentially his best season yet could result in no recognition.
