Cade Cunningham Believes His ‘High Level’ of Play Stamps Him As the Rookie of the Year

Conversations surrounding this year’s MVP and ROY races have been intense, to say the least, as the top three choices for each accolade have made a crystal clear case. Most recently, Cade Cunningham opened up about his first year in the League via Andscape’s latest Rookie Diary, in which he cited why he views himself as the Rookie of the Year.

“If you watch my game and watch the way I play, you could appreciate all things that I do on the floor. What makes me Rookie of the Year is me being able to do so many things at such a high level,” Cunningham wrote in the diary.

Why should @CadeCunningham_ be the 2022 #NBA Rookie of the Year? The #Pistons star explains in his Rookie Diary in @andscape. https://t.co/EkseeKba2U pic.twitter.com/tmOW5rPWkH

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) April 13, 2022

The former No. 1 overall pick has led first-year players in scoring – dropping 17.4 per game – and ranked second in assists per game with 5.6 dimes, leading to his ranking as the best rookie in the 2021-22 class according to ESPN’s 25 Under 25.

The ’22 Rising Stars MVP continued to garner accolade after accolade throughout the season despite missing a portion of the season with a lingering ankle injury, becoming only the sixth rookie since the NBA merger to average 20-5-5 after the All-Star break.

On Monday, the remaining ballots were filled by NBA Media on their finalists for League awards with the announcement of the awards to take place at the NBA’s award show sometime in June.

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