Pistons guard Cade Cunningham was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for January by the NBA. He becomes the first Pistons rookie since Jonas Jerebko (February, 2010), and only the sixth player in franchise history, to win the award.
Cade Cunningham has been named Eastern Conference rookie of the month for January.
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) February 2, 2022
The #Pistons top pick averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds. pic.twitter.com/FIBrNVuPnv
The first overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cunningham led all rookies in scoring (17.3 ppg) while leading all Eastern Conference rookies in assists (5.6 apg) in January. Some highlights of his performance for the month included a career-high 34 points (career-high 6-9 3FG) along with eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and a career-high four blocks vs. Denver (1/25) to become the first player in NBA history to record such a stat line with six 3-pointers made. Cunningham also joined Michael Jordan as the only rookie in league history to record 34 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four blocks in a single game.
The Arlington, Texas native recorded two games with 25-plus points, five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists for the month of January and was the only rookie to tally such numbers in any game for the month. In January, he recorded 12 games with 10-plus points and four games with 20-plus points while grabbing five-plus rebounds seven times and dishing out five-plus assists 10 times.
Among qualified NBA rookies this season, Cunningham currently ranks tied for first in scoring (15.8 ppg), sixth in rebounds (5.5 rpg), second in assists (5.2 apg), second in steals (1.3 spg) and second in free-throw percentage (86.0).
