The Detroit Pistons enter the 2026-27 NBA season with point guard Cade Cunningham as the best player on the roster. Cunningham helped lead Detroit to a 60-22 record last season and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Cade Cunningham Fantasy Basketball Value Starts With the Assists
During the 2025-26 season, he averaged 23.9 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 9.9 assists per game, 0.8 blocks per game, and 1.4 steals per game. He shot 46.1% from the field, 34.2% from three-point land, and 81.2% from the free-throw line. Cunningham played in 64 games last season. Many fantasy basketball owners will be taking him high in fantasy drafts this season.
RotoWire Has Cunningham Fifth on Its Top 150
Alex Barutha, Kirien Sprecher, and Nick Whalen of RotoWire ranked the top 150 basketball players entering the 2026-27 NBA season for points leagues, and NBA.com ran the list. They have Cunningham fifth, and wrote of him:
“Big-usage, ball-dominant guard with a heavy assist load and better rebounding than most point guards. He turns it over a lot, which is the one thing points leagues actually punish him for, but he outruns the penalty by volume. Cunningham will be 25 for the entire 2026-27 season and could still be improving.”
There is no doubt that he is the number one option on the Pistons every single night. The four players ranked ahead of him are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder at four, Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers at three, Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs at two, and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets at one.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Belongs Ahead of Cunningham
The one player that should be ranked ahead of Cunningham in the top five is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was traded to the Miami Heat on the eve of the 2026 draft. He was ranked sixth. Antetokounmpo last season averaged 27.6 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, 5.4 assists per game, 0.7 blocks per game, and 0.9 steals per game in just 36 games with the Milwaukee Bucks.
He also shot 62.4% from the field, 33.3% from three-point land, and 65.0% from the free-throw line. The case for Antetokounmpo comes down to scoring and rebounding, where he beat Cunningham 27.6 to 23.9 and 9.8 to 5.5. Cunningham takes the rest of the box score, including assists, steals, blocks, and both the 3-point and free-throw percentages, and he played 28 more games. Even so, a full Antetokounmpo season is the higher ceiling, and that is what a top-five fantasy pick is buying.
