The Detroit Pistons‘ franchise player should have his future with the team secured by early July.
The Pistons intend to sign Cade Cunningham to a five-year rookie max extension worth $226 million (25% of the projected 2025-26 salary cap), a league source told the Free Press on Sunday. evening. The contract could reach around $270 million, or 30% of the 2025-26 cap once it is set next summer, if Cunningham meets the supermax criteria by making an All-NBA team next season.
The source requested anonymity because the deal cannot be officially closed until 12:01 on Saturday.
Cunningham, who will turn 23 in September, is coming off the best season of his three-year career and is now under contract for six more years through the 2029-30 season.
His starting salary, which represents 25% of the salary cap, will be about $39 million and will rise to approximately $51 million in the final season.
He will be under the tutelage of new head coach JB Bickerstaff, who agreed to become the team’s third coach in two seasons on Sunday.
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Cunningham averaged 22.7 points, 7.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game on 44.9% shooting from the field and 35.5% shooting from 3-point range in 2023-24. It was a bounce-back season after the 6-foot-9 guard played in just 12 games during his sophomore season due to a shin injury that led him to undergo season-ending surgery.
The 2024-25 season will be the last of his rookie contract before his extension kicks in next summer, meaning the Pistons are sacrificing cap space and flexibility for the security of securing Cunningham’s future now ahead of restricted free agency.
New Pistons president Trajan Langdon has expressed his intention to build around Cunningham and find pieces that can lighten his workload.
“As far as Cade goes, he and I have had some really good conversations so far,” Langdon said during his introductory press conference on June 21. “He’s a great human being, mature beyond his years and a great basketball player at a young age, averaging 23 points and 7 assists last year. We’re going to put a group around him that can foster his growth but not make it so hard for him to do the things he had to do last year but also help other players do better.”
“We want other players to help him so he can help other players as well, because he’s a selfless player who I think has the opportunity to make a real impact at a high level and be a top player.”
Cunningham was one of the only bright spots during a dreadful 14-68 2023-24 season that revealed deep flaws in the Pistons’ team-building strategy and coaching. Despite that, Cunningham late in the season expressed excitement about having a fully healthy offseason ahead of him to work on his top two skill priorities: ball-handling and conditioning.
“It obviously wasn’t the year we expected, but we learned a lot,” he said in April. “There were a lot of lessons that came out of it. For me, I’m thankful that I was able to get through another season, to be healthy, to be back on the court after missing most of my sophomore year. Those are the positives I’m taking away from a tough situation like this. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.”
Cunningham joins Isaiah Stewart as the only Pistons to sign long-term deals outside of rookies. Stewart is entering the first year of a four-year, $600 deal signed last summer under coach Troy Weaver.
Athletic was the first to report the imminent agreement.
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. FOLLOW IT @omarisankofa.
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