Cade Cunningham Is The Overwhelming Favorite To Be Drafted At No.1

The NBA season is well and truly over, with the Milwaukee Bucks being crowned champions on Tuesday night after beating the Phoenix Suns. The Bucks went down 2-0 in what was an exciting finals series but won four straight to close things out at 4-2.

The celebrations aren’t close to dying down in Wisconsin but all eyes will be on the NBA Draft, which takes place on July 29. The Detroit Pistons are set to go first and it will be interesting to see who they use their No.1 pick. As far as the NBA odds are concerned, Cade Cunningham is favored to go at No.1.

Bookmakers have the Oklahoma State star at 100/1 in that regard. He’s followed by Jalen Green, who’s a distant 16/1, while Evan Mobley is at 25/1 and Jalen Suggs is at 33/1.

The Pistons have a chance to choose their next big star and are wasting little time doing due diligence on that front. According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Adrian Wojnarowski, the team hosted the player for a light workout in Detroit on Tuesday and will bring Green and Suggs in the coming days.

The Pistons haven’t scheduled a workout with Mobley just yet but they should do so prior to the draft next week.

Cunningham is said to be happy to play for Detroit and isn’t planning on having any other workouts.

“The Detroit Pistons, owners of the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft, are conducting individual workouts with some of the top prospects in the draft pool this week, sources told ESPN,” the report reads. “The Pistons hosted Cade Cunningham for a light workout in Detroit on Tuesday, and are slated to bring Jalen Green and Jalen Suggs in for private workouts in the coming days. The Pistons would like to bring Evan Mobley in, but have yet to schedule a visit, sources said.

“Cunningham, the longtime front-runner for the top overall selection, is not planning on conducting any additional visits, sources said, and would be extremely pleased to land in Detroit.”

Cunningham, 19, headed into college with lots of expectations and exceeded all of them. He had the makings of a lottery pick from the time he laced up for his first game and, as the odds would have it, should go first in this year’s draft.

A five-star recruit out of Montverde, the point guard left Oklahoma State with several honors, including First Team All-American, Big XII Player of the Year, and National Freshman of the Year, earning all of those in a single campaign.

He’s particularly attractive given his height, 6ft 8in, and also boasts a 7-foot wingspan.

“The same doubts about Luka’s athleticism and his translation to the NBA are some of the same doubts that people have about Cade,” an ESPN draft analyst said earlier this month. “He’s not going to jump over tall buildings. He’s not super explosive, but with his size and strength and basketball acumen, he’s very similar to Luka. A team can look at Luka and say, ‘Well, the same questions we may have had about his translation to the NBA are some of the same we’re having about Cade right now.’ You better make sure that you don’t make the same mistake twice.”

The player led the Big XII in scoring and also led the conference, as well as the entire country, in clutch points scored with 103. He scored at least 20 points in 14 games, doing so in his first two games and three times in the postseason. He posted 40 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in a win over rivals Oklahoma.

“I really like [Oklahoma State University], I love it,” he said ahead of his joining the school. “I feel like this is the opportunity to get that history rolling and start a new trend of, you can be a top guy and go to Oklahoma State and succeed. I feel like Oklahoma State was the perfect fit for me because of the Big 12, the coaching staff, the location. … I don’t really feel any pressure of playing basketball because that’s a game that I’ve done since I was a little kid. There’s no pressure in playing basketball. It’s a game at the end of the day, and I feel like I’m pretty good at it.”

It should be quite the shock if the Pistons go with another player in the draft. Cunningham is the favorite to go at No.1 for a reason, he’s simply the best player available in this year’s class. Of course, Detroit could opt to go with Green or Suggs as they’re also top-tier youngsters but it’s hard to believe they’d leave Cunningham on the table after making their pick.

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