{"id":125507,"date":"2025-02-24T22:03:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T03:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=125507"},"modified":"2025-02-24T22:03:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T03:03:03","slug":"pistons-cade-cunningham-compared-lebron-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/24\/pistons-cade-cunningham-compared-lebron-james\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons Veteran Compares Cade Cunningham To NBA MVP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Pistons are now 32-26 after defeating the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers in back-to-back nights. Now sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, they&#8217;re firmly on the pathway to playoff contention. For anyone that watched them during their horrendous 2023-24 campaign, the turnaround is all but miraculous.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, Pistons guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schrode01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dennis Schroder<\/a> has been preaching the gospel of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cunnica01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cade Cunningham<\/a>, who&#8217;s having an outstanding season. The face of the Pistons, Cunningham was given the keys to the franchise after being drafted first overall in 2021. For the first time, he&#8217;s not only healthy, but rolling on all cylinders. The Pistons&#8217; turnaround hasn&#8217;t been solely because he&#8217;s blossoming into an MVP-caliber player. Nevertheless, it&#8217;s definitely a significant factor in their success.<\/p>\n<p>So much so that Schroder recently compared him to Los Angeles Lakers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, who many consider to be the best player ever.<\/p>\n<h2>Pistons&#8217; Dennis Schroder Compares Team Leader To LeBron James<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;He reminds me of Bron. I think he can do anything,&#8221; Schroder says.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Dennis Schr\u00f6der said postgame he wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d seen a half like Cade Cunningham\u2019s tonight. So I had to ask if he\u2019s ever played with a player like Cunningham prior to being a Piston.<\/p>\n<p>The first name he mentioned was LeBron.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI played with Bron, I think he can do anything.\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WeYfa9AhdP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WeYfa9AhdP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hunter Patterson (@HuntPatterson_) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HuntPatterson_\/status\/1893855286986764675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 24, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Schroder would then go on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/24\/pistons-cade-cunningham-luka-doncic-vibes\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">to explain the similarities<\/a> between Cunningham and Lakers point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a>, lauding his playmaking ability. With that in mind, Cunningham&#8217;s shot-making is often highlighted, but his court vision and creative passing should be as well. In an era that&#8217;s seen point guards take on more of a scoring role, his dedication to dishing assists to his teammates is even more noteworthy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Cade Cunningham just vibes with the ball&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Quick snatch behind into the quick lob pass \ud83e\udd71<\/p>\n<p>Duren takes care of the rest at the rim! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LVeB6GJECW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LVeB6GJECW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1894204908359778601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, what sets James and Doncic apart is their defense. Though Cunningham isn&#8217;t as much of a force at that end, he&#8217;s not considered a liability there either. In fact, he&#8217;s one of the better defensive players at his position, if not the league. Not only does he possess the size and strength to guard multiple positions, he has the lateral agility and technique.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">FG% when guarded by Cade Cunningham:<\/p>\n<p>0% = LeBron James<br \/>\n0% = Jaylen Brown<br \/>\n33% = Jayson Tatum<br \/>\n0% = Jalen Brunson<br \/>\n0% = LaMelo Ball<br \/>\n0% = Tyrese Haliburton<br \/>\n33% = Donovan Mitchell<br \/>\n33% = Darius Garland<\/p>\n<p>Total = 11% FG (4\/35)<\/p>\n<p>On-ball defense has been elite so far. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LIj3yzvwNp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LIj3yzvwNp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pistons Jack (@pistons_jack) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pistons_jack\/status\/1854841293719191689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He isn&#8217;t freakishly explosive like James. However, Schroder&#8217;s comparison might not be far off the mark, at least from a skill standpoint. For his and the Pistons&#8217; sake, one day he&#8217;ll be able to be compared to the four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA MVP for other reasons.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Scott Wachter-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Pistons are now 32-26 after defeating the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers in back-to-back nights. Now sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, they&#8217;re firmly on the pathway to playoff contention. For anyone that watched them during their horrendous 2023-24 campaign, the turnaround is all but miraculous. That being said, Pistons guard Dennis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":125528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1608,26,62],"tags":[3965,252,38,1133,596],"class_list":["post-125507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pistons","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-dennis-schroder","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125529,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125507\/revisions\/125529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}