JULY 10: Cunningham’s maximum-salary extension is official, the Pistons announced today in a press release.
Cunningham is the third player to sign a max rookie scale extension this offseason, joining Scottie Barnes of the Raptors and Franz Wagner of the Magic.
JULY 9: The Pistons and Cunningham are in agreement on a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension, agents Jeff Schwartz and James Dunleavy tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Wojnarowski says it’s a $224MM deal that could be worth up to $269MM, which means it will include Rose rule language that could bump the starting salary from 25% of the 2025/26 cap to 30% if Cunningham makes an All-NBA team
JUNE 30: The Pistons intend to sign 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham to a five-year, rookie scale max extension, sources tell Shams Charania and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The exact value of Cunningham’s extension is currently unknown. If the salary cap rises by 10% in 2025/26, which is when the extension will kick in, it would be worth approximately $224MM.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks hears (via Twitter) that while Detroit and Cunningham have discussed an extension, a deal doesn’t appear to be imminent. However, Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press has sources who say it’s on track to get done. The guard can’t officially sign anything until July 6.
After a promising ’21/22 campaign which saw Cunningham finish third in Rookie of the Year voting, the 22-year-old was limited to just 12 games due to season-ending surgery in ’22/23. Despite the Pistons finishing with the NBA’s worst record in ’23/24, Cunningham had a strong third season, averaging 22.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 7.5 APG and 0.9 SPG on .449/.355/.869 shooting in 62 games (33.5 MPG).
Assuming Cunningham’s contract comes to fruition, which seems likely, he would join Raptors forward Scottie Barnes as the second player from the 2021 draft class to agree to a rookie scale extension. The full list of players eligible for rookie scale deals can be found right here.
While Barnes agreed to an extension that features Rose rule language, potentially allowing him to earn 30% of the ’25/26 salary cap instead of 25%, the terms Charania and Edwards reported suggest that Cunningam might not have gotten that offer from Detroit. Either way, it’s a major commitment to the 6’6″ guard, who will earn $13.94MM in ’24/25, which is the final season of his rookie scale contract.
Now surround him with shooters so he has a chance.. Pistons has no choice but to give him max but they must make some moves to bring in shooters..
If they could bring back a nice three shooter this offseason like Malik Beasley and get someone like T Harris they could be a frisk play in team next yr
Cade Cunningham got plenty talent and skill but I’m not sure if I would’ve gave him that type of money yet. He haven’t been healthy enough for me.
Does that mean Ivey is a trade pieces because we all know they couldn’t play together.
At this rate the easiest path to becoming a Billionaire is play in the NBA. Not even a great one just an ok/good one.
nba players should each hand write Jordan, Magic, and Bird Christmas cards for making it happen!!
Around 450 people play in the NBA every year and there’s been thousands of players over the decades. Out of all those players exactly two have become billionaires.
I think Magic made the list 3. Vinnie Johnson is the most likely candidate for number 4 which is crazy when you think of how little he actually made plying in the NBA.
I didn’t realize Magic had made it billionaire status just three days ago.
And now 22 year old Scottie Barnes and Cade Cunningam have signed $220 million contracts. By the time they are ready for another they will be signing for $500 million. And if they have a career like a Paul George they will sign another one at age 34 for another $300 million. That will be a billion career earnings for Cade Cunningham and scottie Barnes. They’re not exactly Kobe or Lebron
This assumes they don’t get hurt and continue to increase their production every year. And that the cap continues to grow. And that there isn’t a downturn in league interest. In fact this doesn’t seem as likely as you think it is. I’m not the biggest George fan but I have to imagine he’ll be a cautionary example of handing out hundreds of millions at such an advanced age, not a bastion of why you should, but more why you shouldn’t. Jimmy couldn’t get his extension, and neither could Kawhi or Harden, and all 3 might be better than George. I think you are being slightly over dramatic.
None of those guys signed such a deal so young. And the cap is going up! Most of the guys like harden Westbrook George Durant will have made close to a billion career earnings. Now the young guys are making even more. A problem I see in the future will be players retiring around 30 because they have made so much money
No they won’t. The more money they make the more they want. That’s why LeBron, a billionaire is still playing. Why would a player retire at 30 if they can earn another $200M
Jimmy and Kawhi are always hurt and miss a lot of games. Harden is inconsistent and undependable. He also pouts when he doesn’t get his way. As for Paul George, the Sixers bought his BS and overpaid him. They will regret it after year two when the Sixers lose in the first round for the second year in a row. Playoff P my butt.
My point was more to the fact that it’s just so hard to make it. It takes years of hard work and dedication on top of natural talent. Even if you do make it the average NBA career is 4.5 seasons long. Of the few that make it fewer still are talented enough to demand the salaries of players like even Cunningham and Barnes. Most guys get far less. Then 3 percent off the top goes to their agents and there’s jock taxes. In average a professional athletes sees about 56% of his actual salary give or take. If Barnes makes it to another contract after this one it will probably be in the neighborhood of $350-400 million. Then if he’s lucky he’ll get one more contract in the range of $400,000. Add that all up and yeah that’s about billion dollars, but 56% of a billion is $560,000. Add endorsement deals and unless you’re a global icon like LeBron James that brings them back up to say $700,000. Along the way there’s common expenses like food, women, kids, Lambos and mansions.
Unless they have outside ventures most of theses guys playing today outside of maybe Wembanyama and a few others that become the next group of global superstars very few will see a billion dollars. Going forward 10-15 years it will be more common but we’re a few years off where being an NBA player is more likely path to becoming a billionaire than having a rich daddy.
Ray Lewis had the best quote when it came to pro athletes. “It’s easy to do if you are willing to spend 8 hours a day every single day in the gym”
My point is that Lebron James, Jordan, Kobe, bird, magic all were worth a lot more than they were paid and paved the way for these guys to get 200 million before sniffing the playoffs.
You have to have the God given talent. If practicing 8 hours a day is all it takes to become a professional athlete, then all of us would be pro athletes.
What does it matter if they do or don’t become billionaires. If they earn $20M in their career, that is enough money to last them the rest of their life. They also get a pension from the NBA and social security. Plus health insurance.
Not sure how that matters, but there are actually three billionaire NBA players
But not from NBA salaries.
What are you saying here? The hyperbole is off the charts so much that this comment is just a word salad.
Crazy how mediocre players are getting the max.
It’s wild bad teams have to pay everyone they have too. Baseball isn’t a good comparison for any business, but some teams spending less when they have no talent worth paying is at least a logical argument for them.
Imo his best position is SG. He can play point but is no PointGod. Would have been great in Triangle. Pistons need a direction. Not enough to just accumulate talent. Now they are on no their third coach with this young group.
Is Cade really a max guy? I mean I guess if you’re a rookie on a bottom feeder team thats the new norm. I would be very worried about what this deal looks like in 2 seasons. Im probably lower on Cade than most though.