Cade Cunningham is quietly putting together the best season of his career, and the Detroit Pistons are suddenly looking like a team nobody wants to deal with in the Eastern Conference.
But while the 24-year-old guard continues to light up the scoreboard, there’s something else bothering him about today’s NBA. It’s the whistles, the flops, and what he believes is a growing culture of players gaming the system instead of just playing basketball.
Cade Cunningham Calls Out Foul-Baiting Culture
Cunningham is averaging a career-high 25.7 points per game this season while also posting 5.7 rebounds and 9.7 assists on 46.3% shooting from the field.
Detroit has ridden that elite production to a 41-13 record, placing the Pistons to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. It marks a massive turnaround for a franchise that spent four of the last five seasons stuck near the bottom of the league.
Still, Cunningham believes his style of play is not always rewarded the same way as others around the NBA.
Speaking to Matthew Roberson of GQ Sports, Cunningham admitted that while fans have started appreciating his straightforward, no-frills approach, it sometimes comes at a cost.
“I thought it was really cool that people started appreciating my game in that way,” Cunningham said. “But I don’t get the same respect from the refs. I’m not getting the same foul calls.”
The Pistons guard explained that there are nights when he feels his performance should translate to bigger scoring totals or even wins, but the lack of calls changes the outcome.
“People feel like this guy might be better than me, and he’s nowhere near better than me,” he added. “Or like, I should have had 50 this game, or we should have won this game by 10, but we’re not getting the foul calls.”
The two-time NBA all-star went on to describe compliments about the purity of his game as one of the highest forms of praise he has received from fans.
When asked about what he sees as the biggest issue in the modern NBA, Cunningham did not hesitate.
“Foul baiting,” he said. “The referees have to get involved because we’re baiting people into fouls all the time. The flopping is just too much.”
Cunningham also questioned how the league can realistically address flopping if some of its biggest stars rely on it.
“What do you do with your best players that do it?” Cunningham said. “Three of the top five, 10 guys in the NBA are doing it constantly. You gon’ kick them out the game?”
He then pointed to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s reputation for drawing favorable whistles on offense, particularly around All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while also playing a physical defensive style that often goes unpunished.
“You can’t hack them. It’s tough,” Cunningham said. “If I win a championship — when I win the championship — I’m going to want the same type [of whistle]. I want to be able to foul people and they can’t foul me.”
Cunningham emphasized that games should be officiated based on in-game action rather than player status.
“You have to ref the game for what you’re seeing, not reputations or any other stuff,” he said. “It doesn’t get reffed that way.”
The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft described flopping as a “get out of jail free card,” adding that the constant search for contact disrupts the overall flow of games.
“But some people are better than others,” Cunningham said with a smile. “I can’t sell a foul for nothing. There’s skill to it, for sure.”
The Pistons will be back in action against the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 21, to extend their four game winning streak and continue their postseason push behind Cunningham’s career year.
His remarks however, are likely to add fuel to the league-wide discussion surrounding officiating consistency and foul-drawing tactics in today’s NBA.
