The Cade Cunningham-led Detroit Pistons team topped the Eastern Conference with a 60-22 record in 2025-26 and lost in the second round to the Cleveland Cavaliers after a nail-biting seven-game series. And they did all that without a veteran superstar on their team.
So the natural progression from here on, to improve the roster, would be to add another superstar to the team. And LeBron James was the biggest free agent available this summer before he joined the 76ers, with almost the entire league interested in his services. But Cunningham saved himself the effort of trying to convince the 41-year-old to join him in Detroit.
“I didn’t give LeBron a call. I don’t think he would have cared to hear what I had to say about it. He’s doing what he wants to do at this point. I’m not mad at that. It is what it is, so good for him,” Cunningham said in an appearance on the “Sports Seriously” podcast.
“I don’t know where that report came from. I never told anybody that I talked to XYZ. I wouldn’t say that report was all the way true either. I don’t get into all the tinkering. I just kind of let our staff do their job,” Cunningham said about potentially stepping into the role of a player who is making recruitment pitches for the Pistons.
Of course, it was not realistic to assume that James would want to join the Pistons. When almost the entire NBA reached out to James, the Pistons were nowhere close to the shortlist of teams James decided amongst.
So Cade Cunningham might be right to presume that James already had his mind made up. The Pistons are in a difficult situation due to their inefficiency in the trade market thus far.
They don’t have enough elite talent to draw in big names, but the only way to add more elite talent is to attract those big names. The only consistent rising star on that team has been Cade Cunningham, who finished fifth in the 2025-26 MVP race.
He finished the season averaging 24.7 points, 9.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds in 78 games played (combining regular season and playoffs). He shot 45.5% from the field and 35.5% from behind the three-point line.
A big trade becomes more alluring as the offseason goes on, even if it means giving up several future assets in exchange for an instant improvement. Kevin Durant was an A-list name that popped up in trade rumors linked to the Pistons. But the Rockets apparently rejected the offer.
Now the Pistons have to decide if they want to pay Jalen Duren for a max extension, or create the cap space to lure a superstar-caliber player looking to make money. If Duren picks his $9.2 million qualifying offer and becomes a free agent next summer, the Pistons would be in a promising position to potentially lure another superstar to join them.
If he signs a max extension, it will show that the Pistons have bought into the vision of sticking with this young core. As of now, they have approximately $54 million left before the first apron and $67 million before the second apron (salary cap space).
But the one domino that needs to fall is Jalen Duren’s contract situation before they can think of making any other major roster changes before 2026-27. It will be very fascinating to see what the Pistons do next.