Cade Cunningham earned the highest honor for an Eastern Conference player for his string of performances over the past month.
On Tuesday, the NBA announced that the Detroit Pistons guard is the Eastern Conference Player of the Month. He is sharing the spotlight with the Western Conference pick, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
Knowing everything that Jokic has accomplished in the past, Cunningham is certainly in elite company.
Hours after the announcement made its rounds, Cunningham took to Instagram to send out a message to his 800-plus thousand followers.
“Move in space with minimum waste and maximum joy,” the star guard wrote as his caption, after he shared his most recent viral highlight from the Pistons’ victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Throughout November, Cunningham hit a bit of a roadblock when he suffered a setback midway through the month. The one-time All-Star ended up missing three games of action. Fortunately, the Pistons found success in each of those games, keeping a league-leading winning streak alive.
Cunningham returned to the court on November 18 to face the Atlanta Hawks on the road. He finished out the month by appearing in every game.
During those 12 games in November, Cunningham was seeing the court for a little under 38 minutes of action. He made 47 percent of his shots from the field and knocked down 34 percent of his threes while taking 6.3 attempts per game.
Cunningham posted averages of 31.6 points, 9.8 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game. In the games he played, the Pistons put together a 10-2 record.
During their first matchup of December, Cunningham had another stellar showing. In 38 minutes against a tough defensive squad from Atlanta, Cunningham put up 18 points while shooting 46 percent from the field. He also dished out eight assists on the offensive end. On defense, he came down with eight rebounds, collected six steals, and blocked three shots.
The Pistons are currently the top team in the Eastern Conference. Heading into their Wednesday night action, Detroit holds a 17-4 record. They are 8-2 over their last 10 games, and are back on the ball with a two-game winning streak.
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