“I think that’s a misinterpretation that I’m not the Rookie of the Year”: Cade Cunningham backs himself to win the ROTY honors over the likes of Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes

Unsurprisingly, Cade Cunningham believes that his performance in his first-ever campaign was sufficient enough to help him win the ROTY award.

Being drafted as the #1 pick of the 2021 draft, there were a lot of expectations riding on Cade Cunningham. Apart from a series of poor performances in his first few appearances, Cunningham’s rookie campaign has been nothing short of incredible. Shattering several records and achieving numerous remarkable feats, the Pistons guard pretty much lived up to all the hype.

Despite Detroit’s awful positioning on the standings, Cade has been putting up some outstanding numbers. The 6-foot-6 guard has been averaging a solid 17.2 points (1^st among rookies), 5.7 rebounds (5^th among rookies), and 5.6 assists (2^nd among rookies).

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Currently, in a tightly-contested ROTY battle along with Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley and Raptors’ Scottie Barnes, several people believe that the combo-guard has the advantage over the remainder of his draft class to win the prestigious honor.

“I just use my own basketball knowledge to interpret what’s going on”: Cade Cunningham

Detroit Piston General Manager, Troy Weaver, is one of many who thinks Cade has the upper hand to win the ROTY award. In a Sports Illustrated article, Weaver revealed:

“This rookie class is tremendous,” Weaver acknowledges. “But none of them are shouldering the load like Cade. So that alone, to me, kinda puts him a cut above everyone else.”

When asked Cunningham about his opinions on the topic, Cade went on to talk about his goals for the next season before regarding himself as the Rookie of the Year.

“First, I want to be a playoff team, for sure,” Cunningham says. “I’d love to be an All-Star next year. I’d love to see somebody else from my team get in that conversation.”

“The NBA has a lot of fans, and there’s a ton of opinions out there. And so I kind of loosely know what’s being said about me, but more than anything I pay attention to my game and how I’m playing, how other people are playing, and I just use my own basketball knowledge to interpret what’s going on. I don’t really look into the opinions too much.

“But… I feel like I’m the Rookie of the Year. I think that’s a misinterpretation that I’m not.”

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In the latest ROTY ladder, Cunningham was ranked #2 behind the likes of Mobley. With Mobley’s contributions to the Cavaliers’ success this season, it’ll be very difficult for Cade to grab the ROTY honors over Evan.