Why the Pistons Will Continue To Build Around Cade Cunningham & Jaden Ivey

Highlights

• The Pistons’ past decade has been marked by few playoff appearances, and no playoff series wins since 2008.
• Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey have emerged as solid pieces, despite the Pistons struggling to get to or above the .500 mark.
• Detroit aims to build around Cunningham and Ivey, despite questions regarding their on-court chemistry.

The past few seasons have not been easy for the Detroit Pistons. The team is in the midst of a full rebuild, so hardships are to be expected. But beginning with a vision of a team at least reaching the play-in tournament, and ending with the reality of being tied for the worst record in the NBA, is a vast difference.

The wake-up call has hit the front office. The Pistons are not contending in 2024, as they are currently tied with the Washington Wizards for the worst record in the league, at 9-49 (a team whose rebuild has gone poorly as well). This season could easily become the fifth straight in which the Pistons finish with less than 25 wins, and the second straight season (and third in franchise history) with fewer than 20 wins.

It is not even the result of a faulty vision. The Pistons possess a talented young core and tons of cap space, but the talent has not resonated on the court. It is already year four of the rebuild, and while occasional glimmers of hope shine through, there is very little hype or hope around the Pistons at this moment. This has led to some shake-ups as recently as this year’s NBA trade deadline, as Detroit looked to shake up its core a bit.

But where those occasional glimmers of hope do shine through are within the aforementioned core, in the team’s two first-round draft picks, Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. The long-term vision has been to establish these two players as the backcourt of the future and build around them. But the question is whether the Pistons will be able to achieve this.

Selling it off

The Pistons decided a few years ago that a rebuild was the correct direction to go

Before Cunningham and Ivey even came into the picture, the Pistons decided that another rebuild would be the correct choice. The previous decade had not been kind to the franchise, as the Pistons only finished above .500 once, and that was in 2016, when they finished 44-38 and 8th in the Eastern Conference.

Since 2009, the Pistons have only made the playoffs twice, in 2016 and 2019. And in both of those seasons, they were swept in the first round. The 2015-16 season marked the only time the Pistons finished above .500 in this decade, but they were swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who would go on to win the championship that year. In 2019, they squeaked into the playoffs as the 8th seed, finishing 41-41, but were swept in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Pistons have not won a playoff series since 2008. Following the 2019-20 season, and after years of losing and hardships, the front office made the decision to initiate the next rebuild. Owner Tom Gores brought in neophyte general manager Troy Weaver from the Oklahoma City Thunder to construct the future team.

Weaver’s tenure has been a mixed bag. The Pistons did win the lottery in 2021 and received the first overall pick in that year’s draft, using it to draft Cade Cunningham. Viewed as the centerpiece to the Pistons’ long-term future, the plan was to pair Cunningham with another future high draft pick or two, and build a solid young core that would blossom and flourish into a dominant force.

Losing in the face of the vision

The Pistons have continued to lose even as Weaver rebuilds the team

Cunningham’s first season with the Pistons in 2021-22 started off with the then-rookie suffering an ankle injury. As a result, he missed a portion of training camp, the entire preseason, and the first six games of the regular season. But despite this, Cunningham proved to be the young centerpiece the front office had hoped for, as he concluded his rookie season in a solid fashion.

He finished his rookie season averaging 17.4 points, along with 5.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game. Cunningham became only the 10th player in NBA history to finish with those figures or better in his rookie season. Only 20 years old at the time, the ceiling was extremely high for Cunningham, and hopefully, for the Pistons.

Unfortunately, Cunningham could not be the savior for the Pistons that year as they finished with the second-worst record in the NBA, at 23-59. Not only that, but Cunningham would miss most of the following season due to shoulder surgery and the Pistons would finish that year at 17-65, the second-worst mark in franchise history.

In the 2022 NBA Draft, the Pistons selected Jaden Ivey fifth overall, and also struck a trade to acquire Jalen Duren from the New York Knicks. Ivey made his debut in October 2022 and put up a solid year, averaging 16.3 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game.

But Ivey was unable to play with Cunningham enough to build the necessary chemistry as the latter was injured that season, and Ivey’s solid play wasn’t enough to prevent the Pistons from finishing 17-65.

Evaluating the Pistons’ future with Cunningham and Ivey

The Pistons will make it work by building around the talented young guard duo

Even with Cunningham and Ivey emerging as solid pieces for the Pistons, the rebuild was not complete. The team missed out on the first overall pick in 2023, Victor Wembanyama, who has been a solid piece for the San Antonio Spurs this year.

Detroit used the fifth overall pick to draft Ausar Thompson, who has been a decent contributor to the Pistons lineup, but hasn’t made an impact close to the magnitude of Wembanyama or a few other high draft picks both this year and in the past. Thompson is averaging just 8.7 points and 1.9 assists per game so far this season.

However, Thompson has been great on the glass, averaging 6.4 rebounds per game. All of these aspects have intertwined to highlight that Cunningham and Ivey are the primary pieces Detroit should, and will, build around.

There have been questions regarding their play together, however. Ivey does seem to put up better numbers when playing without Cunningham on the court, as he’s averaged 19.8 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game without his backcourt mate. But when Cunningham is in the lineup, those numbers drop to 13.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists, respectively. Cunningham has played very few games without Ivey, so his numbers haven’t been impacted as much.

Cunningham spoke about his relationship with Ivey and how the two have meshed during training camp ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season.

“From the beginning, I knew we were going to make it work. Wasn’t sure how…But over the course of the year, more than anything, I’ve come to respect and like [Jaden Ivey]. I like the way he’s grown throughout the season. I feel him having the ball more and having so much attention on him is really going to pay off in the future when we’re on the court together. All of those things, being able to watch him and take in as much as I can about his game, what he’ll need from me, what I’ll need from him, it’s all going to help.” —Cade Cunningham said of his relationship with Ivey during training camp.

This difference is to be expected, however, as Cunningham becomes the primary ball-handler when on the court. When he is out, Ivey can take over, but otherwise, Ivey is the 1B to Cunningham. With this in mind, the Pistons have their star player whom they will build around, as well as a solid secondary playmaker in Ivey.

The current rebuild has been tough, and there is no telling how it will turn out. But if the Pistons can establish an identity with Cunningham and Ivey, as they’ve attempted to do, as well as obtain some key pieces to pair with them, the future can be bright for Detroit.