Playoff Prospects: Is Cade Cunningham 100% For The Pistons' Championship Push?

In this series, we’ll take a look at each NBA team that’s gunning for a deep playoff run. We’ll try to predict the players that will have the biggest impact, as well as the ceiling for each squad in the 2026 postseason.

After lying dormant for a long time, the familiar chorus of “Dee-troit bask-ket-ball” is once again ringing loudly in the Motor City.

And why would it not? The Detroit Pistons are having their best regular season in 18 years, and they’re looking like a formidable threat in the playoffs. Just like the Detroit teams of past eras (and, indeed, as a reflection of the gritty city that they play for), these Pistons are doing it through defense, limiting opponents with effectiveness that can give the defending NBA champions a run for their money.

If coach JB Bickerstaff’s crew lives up to the postseason standards set around two decades ago, the fanbase in Detroit is in for a treat. Back in the 2007-08 season (when current Pistons rookie Ron Holland II was two years old), the fearsome ensemble of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace won 59 regular season games and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.

Can the 2026 Pistons surpass both of these benchmarks? That is entirely plausible.

The engine that drives the Pistons’ success is their court general extraordinaire. Cade Cunningham is a surefire playoff dynamo, with but one question mark.

When it comes to maturity, ceiling, and clutch performance, the former no. 1 pick has no variables. At just 24 years of age, Cunningham has demonstrated a next-level ability to score at three levels, set up his teammates, and carry out other responsibilities like cleaning up the glass. Essentially, the trajectory of Cunningham sets the direction for the Pistons’ title aspirations.

The elephant in the room, of course, is the collapsed lung that Cunningham suffered in mid-March. Though the two-time All-Star finally returned to action this week, assuring everyone that he “feels great,” there’s no telling if he has really ramped up his conditioning until the hard grind of the playoffs begin.

This past weekend, Pistons forward Tobias Harris urged the fanbase of the Philadelphia 76ers to “get ready for the f**cking play-in.”

Harris isn’t known as a notorious trash talker, but he just had to rub it in as his current squad beat his former team to solidify their position as the East’s top seed. If the Pistons can get this fired up, passionate version of Harris to torch the nets on a consistent basis, they become an even more lethal team on the offensive end.

After Cunningham and first-time All-Star Jalen Duren, there’s a steep decline in the scoring category on the Pistons’ stat sheets. Harris is, beyond dispute, no more than a no. 3 option, but he needs to be the best no. 3 in the Eastern Conference for Detroit to go far.

The Pistons should make short work of their first-round opponent, whether it’s the Miami Heat or the Charlotte Hornets securing the no. 8 spot after the play-in.

In the second round, the Pistons are in for a tough matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Though these teams split their season series 2-2, the Cavs routed the Pistons 113-109. And that was with both Cunningham and Duren playing.

The Pistons and the Cavaliers can go the distance, which might not bode well for Cunningham who is still trying to regain his rhythm and make up for lost time. It wouldn’t be a surprise, then, if Donovan Mitchell and (to a lesser extent) James Harden lead the Cavs to a Game 7 semis victory over the Pistons.