Bickerstaff Backs Cunningham for MVP: “He Can Do Everything”
Cade Cunningham is leading the Detroit Pistons to the best record in the NBA and has firmly entered the 2025-26 MVP race. Detroit is now dreaming big
The Detroit Pistons sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 45-14 record, the best in the entire NBA. The Michigan franchise has found its cornerstone in Cade Cunningham: the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft once again led his team to victory over the Orlando Magic, finishing with 29 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
The Pistons’ point guard is widely considered one of the leading candidates for the 2025-26 NBA MVP: several analysts currently rank him third, behind Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Cunningham also holds an edge over his rivals in the individual award race: he is not required to play nearly every remaining game to stay eligible in the MVP conversation.
That possibility no longer applies to Jokic, should he miss another game, and would also become complicated for Gilgeous-Alexander if he were to sit out more than six times between now and the end of the season.
Cunningham, NBA MVP
After the win over the Magic, Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff highlighted the impact of his All-Star:
He’s special both for the person he is and for the teammate he’s become. I’m honored to work with him every day. His basketball qualities speak for themselves: there’s nothing he can’t do on both ends of the floor. He can score, pass, manage possessions, stop transition, block shots and get steals. Whatever I ask of him, he does it. And that’s not a given – he only cares about winning
JB Bickerstaff
The atmosphere in Detroit is completely different compared to just a few months ago. The turnaround bears Cunningham’s signature, now the technical and emotional leader of a team dreaming of returning to an NBA title more than twenty years later.