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NBA playoffs, not awards, drive Pistons star Cade Cunningham after last year's early exit

/ AP

The NBA playoffs, not awards, drive Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham to chase greatness.

A year after Cunningham had a first-round exit in his postseason debut, the point guard is motivated to lead the three-time championship franchise to success it hasn't experienced in nearly two decades.

After falling one game short of the league's 65-game minimum rule, he won an appeal to be part of the NBA awards voting this season

"It means a lot to me," he said Friday.

It will mean more to him, though, to at least lift Detroit out of the first round of the playoffs.

The Pistons will host the winner of the Charlotte-Orlando game in Game 1 of the first round on Sunday night, shooting to snap a league-record, 10-game postseason home losing streak that dates to the last year they advanced.

Detroit hasn't won a playoff series since 2008, when it reached the conference finals for a sixth straight season to end a run that included the 2004 NBA title and coming up one victory short of repeating the next season.

The Pistons were in the playoffs last year for the first time since 2019 and ended a league-record, 15-game postseason losing streak before being eliminated by the New York Knicks in Game 6.

Cunningham had chances to make winning plays in the games Detroit lost, and learned painful lessons when he didn't come through.

"That was a chip on my shoulder to get better body-wise, skillset-wise," he said.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Cunningham added about 10 pounds of muscle in the offseason and said he feels strong staying at a weight that used to make him feel heavy.

Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff has seen Cunningham's condition prepare him for the rigors of the game.

"His ability to drive the basketball and play through contact because he is so forceful, the added strength lets him do that," Bickerstaff said. "Defensively, he can guard bigger guys. We switch them on the 4s, sometimes 5s, and he can be physical with guys. He can rebound in traffic.

"The strength helped him all around, and I think the motivation came by that experience."

Cunningham's offseason training couldn't prevent an injury he had late a month ago with a collapsed lung that knocked him out of 11 games.

"I'm still trying to get back to full speed and just get my rhythm and everything back, but I'm getting close," Cunningham said. "I'm still just knocking a little bit more of the dust off every day."

In his first of three games following the injury earlier this month, Cunningham had his 38th double-double to lead all NBA guards.

The 24-year-old Cunningham, drafted No. 1 overall by Detroit in 2021, is in the first year of a five-year contract that will pay him more than $269 million.

He provided an early return on the investment as a first-time All-Star starter. He finished the season with 23.9 points, a career-high 9.9 rebounds and 5.5 rebounds a game, leading the franchise to a 60-win season and its first division title in 18 years, to likely earn another spot on an all-league team.

Cunningham was a third-team All-NBA player last season after leading one of the best turnarounds in league history.

And like a player simply trying to make the team, Cunningham consistently was one of the first and last players on the court for practices all season, including on Friday.

"He's a guy who's in the gym every day," said Jalen Duren, who was a first-time All-Star this season. "It's a testament to the work he puts in. Even spending time with him in the summer, he works hard. He deserves everything that's coming to him and more."

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