No. 1 pick debuts suggest growing pains for Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham

After nearly a year of the Detroit Pistons’ “Fade for Cade,” followed by — miraculously! — winning the NBA’s draft lottery, and, finally, actually drafting Cade Cunningham No. 1 overall, everything is falling into place for the return of DEEEE-TROIT BASK-ET-BALLLLLLL. (Sorry, had to get that out of our system.)

The 2021-22 season has started, everyone is ready to go and … wait, where’s Cade? Oh, that’s right, the future face of the franchise is healing up after suffering an ankle sprain early in training camp. After missing the preseason and the first four games of the regular season, he made his debut Saturday vs. Orlando.

SHAWN WINDSOR: Cade Cunningham won’t fix these Pistons — but he’ll help a lot

(Just to refresh your memory, Cunningham went to Oklahoma State as the nation’s top prospect and then carried the Cowboys to the NCAA tournament while averaging 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals over 27 games.)

Cunningham is the sixth point guard taken No. 1 overall since 1985 — the start of the draft lottery era — to take the court (and the third to do it for the Pistons during their career). So what can we expect from Cunningham, both in his debut and in his first season? Here’s how the five point guards taken before him fared.

THE ROAD TO DETROIT: How Cunningham became can’t miss player — aided by his brother & Larry Brown

The college years: After finishing his senior season in Washington D.C. as the No. 5 prep prospect (Detroit’s Josh Jackson was No. 1), Fultz surprised everyone by heading west … to Washington. There, he dominated Pac-12 competition, averaging 23.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks. He only played in 25 games, due to a knee injury and the Huskies’ awful season keeping them out of postseason play.

Story continues

The first game: After a shoulder injury kept him out…