Cade Cunningham, Pistons agree to five-year rookie max extension

Cade Cunningham, Pistons agree to five-year rookie max extension

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham has agreed to a five-year rookie max extension worth $224 million, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Monday. The deal could be worth up to $269 million if Cunningham makes the All-NBA team or is named Defensive Player of the Year or MVP in 2024-25, courtesy of the Rose Rule.

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham has agreed on a five-year, $224 million maximum rookie extension that could become worth as much as $269 million, his agents Jeff Schwartz and James Dunleavy of @ExcelBasketball tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/5UHrrqPyRY

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 9, 2024

The deal was previously reported by Shams Charania and James Edwards III of The Athletic on June 30, but the deal was not finalized until Monday.

Cunningham, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, is one of the best young point guards in the entire league, though his team has not had the success to show for it. He averaged 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists last year, shooting 44.9 percent from the floor, 35.5 percent from 3-point range and 86.9 percent from the free-throw line.

He has primarily operated with the team’s spacing in a telephone booth, so the fact he’s been as efficient and productive as he’s been is quite impressive. Cunningham’s developed nice synergy with center Jalen Duren and will now have more shooters–Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley–surrounding him.

Simone Fontecchio returns to Pistons on two-year deal

The 22-year-old is the third player in his class to agree to a rookie max extension–joining Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner. His new salary–beginning at $38.7 million–will begin in 2025-26 and run through 2029-30, his age-28 season. Detroit should still have cap flexibility by next season and could be looking to add more assets to continue building while having Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland Jaden Ivey and Duren all on rookie contracts.

I haven’t been unimpressed with what Trajan Langdon‘s done so far. Though I could also say the same at the start of Troy Weaver’s tenure (which netted him Cunningham), and we know how that ended.

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