{"id":478500,"date":"2026-02-14T01:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478500\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T01:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:35:13","slug":"cade-cunninghams-first-nba-all-star-game-start-a-part-of-his-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478500\/","title":{"rendered":"Cade Cunningham’s first NBA All-Star Game start a part of his plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 Los Angeles is known for the bright lights of Hollywood, movie stars, a wide array of entertainers and, of course, sunshine. During the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, Detroit Pistons<\/a> guard Cade Cunningham<\/a> is looking forward to basking in that brightness with some of entertainment\u2019s biggest celebrities sitting courtside watching him play at the Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bigger stage, and that\u2019s the beauty of the game,\u201d Cunningham recently told Andscape. \u201cI didn\u2019t fall in love with the game because of the stage that it was. But eventually, I learned to love being on the biggest stage possible and playing in the highest stake games. That\u2019s what I loved doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in an All-Star game in L.A., it ain\u2019t no bigger stage than that. You can\u2019t replicate that anywhere else. It\u2019s like you practice, you have quizzes throughout the year and then this is the big test that passes the grade. Those are the big ones that mean something, that just mean more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham is proud of the Pistons leading the Eastern Conference with 40 wins at the All-Star break. Cunningham, who is playing for the USA Stars in the All-Star Game, certainly is deserving of the honor, as he\u2019s averaging 25.3 points, 9.6 assists (second in the NBA) and 5.6 rebounds. The two-time NBA All-Star is also proud of landing his first voting nod as an Eastern Conference starter.<\/p>\n

But in terms of winning over the fans to be viewed in the same company as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Victor Wembanyama, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic, that is still a work in progress.<\/p>\n

Cunningham ranked 14th in the NBA\u2019s top selling jersey list on Jan. 20. His Pistons didn\u2019t rank among the top 10 in jersey sales among teams, and Cunningham didn\u2019t rank among the top 10 NBA players on social media in a list posted on Dec. 23. <\/p>\n

However, the 24-year-old ranked first in the Eastern Conference in voting by players for All-Star starters. He said that \u201cmeant more to me than anything else.\u201d In the fan All-Star voting, Cunningham ranked fourth in the East behind Antetokounmpo, Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brunson, respectively.<\/p>\n

On how to earn fans\u2019 love, Cunningham said: \u201cI don\u2019t know. That is all up to them. Maybe its continuing on this path for longer. Them seeing it more and more and being more exposed to what\u2019s going on and then them understanding it. I don\u2019t know. I think it\u2019ll come. I just want to continue to win and continue to lead my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cade Cade Cunningham has led the Detroit Pistons to 40 wins at the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Nic Antaya\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

One way it will come for Cunningham is winning on the highest level.<\/p>\n

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Cunningham perhaps didn\u2019t get as much attention as a college star would normally while playing at an All-America level for Oklahoma State during the 2020-21 season. The Pistons selected him No. 1 overall in the 2021 NBA draft. <\/p>\n

During Cunningham\u2019s first three seasons, Detroit was definitely off the radar while struggling to win 23, 17 and 14 games, respectively. The 2023-24 Pistons set the NBA record for the longest single-season losing streak, losing 28 consecutive games.<\/p>\n

But even during that dark losing skid, Cunningham and some of his Pistons teammates had championship dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we had that streak, we were talking championship, believe it or not,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cIt was me. It was Stew [Isaiah Stewart], JD [Jalen Duren] and Ausar [Thompson], JI [former Pistons guard Jaden Ivey]. It was all of us. We had this in our vision for a long time before we figured it out. We just had to figure it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be where we are now is cool. But it\u2019s just a step in this process. We have a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham is playing like an NBA All-Star \u2013 AndscapeRead now<\/a><\/p>\n

Cunningham and the Pistons had a turnaround campaign last season, winning 44 games and testing the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs. The Pistons entered the All-Star break with a 5\u00bd-game lead over the second-place Boston Celtics in the East. Detroit has a chance to be the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2006.<\/p>\n

Cunningham said that while \u201cthe fans might not understand it yet,\u201d the rest of the NBA knows \u201cwe come ready to play.\u201d He said it\u2019s on the Pistons to continue to succeed to earn attention and nationally televised games. Considering the early struggles in his career and his grandmother\u2019s words of wisdom, Cunningham says he won\u2019t let the rise in success get to his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever get a big head,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cSomething my grandma used to always say is, \u2018Just stay humble.\u2019 And this was way before I was ever known for basketball or anything. I had nothing that people were gassing me up about. But she was always saying, \u2018Stay humble.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s how I want to remain. I don\u2019t want to be too big time for anybody or anything. The whole team is built like that. A lot of guys on this team overcame a lot to get here. And so, we kind of bond over that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cade Cade Cunningham (left) would love to represent the United States in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.<\/p>\n

Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cunningham wasn\u2019t a member of the USA Basketball team that won a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Dallas native would love to represent his country in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. And the 2028 men\u2019s basketball competition just happens to be at the Intuit Dome, where Sunday\u2019s NBA All-Star Game will be played.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe L.A. All-Star Game was part of that plan,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cI wanted to make sure I\u2019m in there. And then win a championship and be an Olympic point guard. It\u2019s all part of the long-term plan, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

James, Curry, and Durant are each over 35 years old. In the near future, the torch they\u2019ve held for years will be passed to another American NBA star. If Cunningham can lead the Pistons to their first NBA title since 2004 and make the Olympic team, there is no question he will be viewed as one of the elites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could take the torch by continuing to work, continue to be better each and every year, continue to take steps as far as leading this team to more and more wins,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWinning the championship is the ultimate goal. And then once that happens, staying poised and staying humble, coming back the next year and working every game. It\u2019s a process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different things that go into it. All those [top] guys did all that stuff and put the work in. So, that\u2019s what I want to do. But I think also [it\u2019s important] just having the respect of your competitors and them knowing and making sure you impose that on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who is an NBA All-Star head coach, believes Cunningham is \u201cright there with them all\u201d in terms of the NBA\u2019s top stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a [6-foot-6] point guard who dominates all areas of the offensive end of the floor,\u201d Bickerstaff told Andscape. \u201cBut what I don\u2019t think people talk about enough is his defense, his willingness to guard the other team\u2019s best players. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact that he has on that end of the floor \u2013 to me, he\u2019s one of the top five two-way players in our league. There may be some guys that they talk about offensively, but his impact is on both ends of the floor. There\u2019s not many guys in this league that are that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn\u2019t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 Los Angeles is known for the bright lights of Hollywood, movie stars, a wide array…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-478500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}