DETROIT — Cade Cunningham sat in front of a group of reporters on Monday morning to reflect on his shortened second season, which was halted after 12 games, due to season-ending surgery on his left tibia.
When asked to describe what he's learned about himself in almost a full season without basketball, Cunningham took a brief pause before answering, as the thoughts swirled through his mind.
Cunningham has watched his teammates from the sidelines through the rigors of an NBA season. He's tried to encourage them as they compiled the second-most losses in franchise history. He's tried to become a voice that his teammates desperately needed, even if he wasn't able to help them out with his basketball talents.
"It's tough not being on the court," Cunningham said. "It's tough watching my brothers go out and compete, tired and not feeling it and not being able to go help them out or be out there with them, but it's brought another love to the game.
"It's been such a long time since I've played. There's so many thoughts that go through your head during that time, as far as where you see yourself in the NBA and where I wanna be, but I think just being intentional about my work is the main thing that I've learned really works for me."
Cunningham successfully underwent surgery on Dec. 16 to heal a left tibia stress fracture with the expectation that he would make a full recovery to resume basketball activities this offseason.
He gave an update on his progress and said he's at full-body weight in his workouts. He was last listed at 217 pounds, but he appears bulkier since he last played an NBA game.
"I'm at full-body weight in running right now, which was a big step for me," Cunningham said. "I'm shooting jump shots now. I'm doing a little bit of changing direction right now. Not too much, as far as running up and down and changing direction yet, but the next week or two weeks, I should be getting that going. I'm progressing pretty fast right now. I'm at a point now that I'm at full body weight; I can do a lot more."
Cunningham finished the season averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists and made strides in several areas on offense, as he picked apart defenses, mostly to create space for his go-to midrange jumper. He finished with shooting splits of 41% from the field, 83% from the free-throw line and 27% from the 3-point line, which could be attributed to his lingering shin injury.
Over the past several weeks, Cunningham has used shootarounds and pregame workouts to practice standstill shooting with Pistons senior advisor of player development John Beilein. The Pistons' star guard said he's used this time off to completely build his shot back from the ground up, which could help him become a better 3-point shooter.
"I've been able to really build it up from the ground up. Midseason, you don't really have that time to break it all the way back down and get the shot right and focus on our details, so having all this time, I've really tried to make the most out of it and build a good foundation for my shot. Now that I'm jumping again and running again, getting my legs back under me, I feel like it's coming together well."
