Of the seven major NBA award races, five of them look more or less settled, with Rookie of the Year probably the most intriguing battle. But the Most Improved Player award is setting up to be a duel between Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham (-120) and LA Clippers shooting guard Norman Powell (+125). Cunningham has improved his scoring, rebounding, and assisting by more than two each per game, while Powell has jumped from 13.9 to 24.0 points per game while maintaining his typical stellar efficiency.
Cunningham will have another chance to make his case tonight when the Pistons travel to the Windy City for an 8 p.m. ET clash against the Chicago Bulls. Since January 1, he has averaged 27.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 9.3 assists per game.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Detroit is a 4.5-point favorite and the total is set for 237. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bets centered around Cunningham.
Best Cade Cunningham Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Cade Cunningham 30+ Points (+125)
If I were Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, I wouldn’t be instructing a team that owns the fourth-worst defensive rating and only the 18th-best offensive rating to play at the league’s third-fastest pace. But I’m not Billy Donovan, so that means games against Chicago present an opportunity for every star in the NBA to pad his stats. The Bulls excel at nothing, allowing the second-most points, rebounds, and assists in the league. I almost went for Cunningham to record a triple-double here at +700 odds, but he just had one on Sunday and has only recorded a triple-double in back-to-back games twice this season.
Instead, I’m backing him to score at least 30 points, which he’s done six times in his past 10 games. Over that span, he has accounted for 34.6% of the Pistons’ shots, the third-highest usage rate in the league. He’s also averaging 6.2 free throw attempts per game over the last 10 games and has hit them at a 96.8% clip, including back-to-back 13-for-13 performances. Chicago does allow one of the lowest free-throw attempt rates in the league, so perhaps Cunningham could be held shy of 30 points if he can’t get to the line as frequently as usual.
Cade Cunningham U3.5 Turnovers (-125)
Cunningham’s biggest problem this season has been his propensity for turnovers; he has coughed up the ball 4.4 times per game this season, the third-worst rate in the league. However, since a ghastly set of back-to-back 10-turnover games on January 20 and 22, he has taken better care of the ball, recording five or fewer turnovers in each of the last eight games and averaging a much healthier 3.3 turnovers per game across that stretch, which would rank 12th in the league this season. Given that Detroit will roll out a fully healthy lineup tonight, with the exception of Jaden Ivey, Cunningham shouldn’t have to force too much.
Meanwhile, the Bulls have been horrible at incentivizing giveaways this season, forcing just 12.4 per game, the second-worst mark in the league. Plus, one of their better defenders — point guard Lonzo Ball, who is averaging a career-high 2.4 steals per 36 minutes — is out with an illness while he continues to rehab the knee injury that cost him most of the past three seasons. Without Ball in the fold, Chicago did force 26 turnovers in its past two games, but in the larger sample size of a full season, I still figure that they’re worse without their defensive-minded point guard.
