Cade Cunningham Becomes an All-Star and Leads Detroit Back to the Playoffs

Cade Cunningham has been named to the All-NBA Third Team, capping a season in which he became an All-Star for the first time and led the Detroit Pistons back to the playoffs. The selection was announced on Friday, May 23, 2025, and he is one of two first-time All-NBA picks, NBA.com confirms.

The 23-year-old averaged 26.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 9.1 assists in 70 games. That puts him alongside Oscar Robertson as the only players to average 25, 5 and 9 at 23 or younger. Detroit improved by 30 wins to finish 44-38 and sixth in the East, their first playoff trip since 2019. They took the New York Knicks to six games, and Cunningham posted his first playoff triple-double along the way. He also finished third in the Most Improved Player vote, Wikipedia records.

Cunningham has not eaten animal products since high school, apart from one wobble on tour with USA Basketball in Greece in 2019. He told ESPN in 2021, as VegNews reports:

We weren't accustomed to the food that we had out there. So, I started back eating burgers and things, [but] on that trip, I told myself, 'I'm going back to vegan, and I'm sticking to it.'

He has stuck to it, and he became an ambassador for Eat Just's plant-based egg the year he was drafted. Carrying a franchise for 70 games while topping 26 points a night takes serious fuel, and his is coming from plants.

We were watching when Cunningham was the number one pick in the NBA draft. He joins a growing plant-based contingent in the league: last month Chris Paul started all 82 games in his 20th season, and Nike once built an advert around Kyrie Irving's vegan diet.

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