Pistons Star Cade Cunningham Joins James Harden in Unwanted Stat Group

Detroit Pistons guard joins unwanted stat company.

Jan 20, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) reacts to a call while playing against the Houston Rockets in the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

In his fourth NBA season, Cade Cunningham has put together a breakout campaign for the Detroit Pistons. While he's put up some big numbers, it's resulted in him joining a former MVP in an unwanted stat category.

Similar to guys like Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic, Cunningham finds himself with the ball in his hands a lot as the focal point of his team's offense. His time on the ball has gone up even more as of late with Jaden Ivey being sidelined due to injury. With this increased usage has come a slight uptick in his turnover numbers.

In his past two outings, Cunningham has had some struggles taking care of the ball. He committed 10 turnovers against the Houston Rockets Monday, and matched that number two days later against the Atlanta Hawks. Following these performances, Cunningham joined James Harden and Sleepy Floyd to have at least 20 turnovers in a two-game span.

Cade Cunningham is just the third player since 1983-84 to record 20+ turnovers in a two-game span. 😬

🔗 https://t.co/RvmH701dYh pic.twitter.com/tzWGdOWMfD

— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) January 23, 2025

While these turnover numbers aren't great, they haven't stopped the Pistons' momentum. Even with Cunningham coughing the ball up at this rate, Detroit was able to win each of these matchups. This put Cunningham in different exclusive company, becoming the fifth player to win multiple games in a season with 10+ turnovers.

Cade Cunningham is the 5th player in our database to have multiple wins with 10+ turnovers in the same season.

🔗 https://t.co/sMqa76d8sT pic.twitter.com/mONtD0OD9j

— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) January 23, 2025

As a ball-dominant star who garners a lot of attention from opposing defenses, bad stretches with turnovers are bound to happen. It comes with the growing pains of becoming the ceneterpiece of everything a team does on the offensive end. As long as Cunningham gets things back under control, it shouldn't be a cause for concern for the Pistons.

Through the first half of the season, Cunningham is battling to earn his spot on an All-Star team. Across 40 matchups, the former No. 1 pick is averaging 24.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 9.4 APG.