Cade Cunningham became the first Detroit Pistons player represented at the NBA All-Star game since 2019, last season.
And it’s looking like the All-NBA third team guard is going to make a run at back-to-back selections as he is currently in fourth place in All-Star fan voting in the Eastern Conference, the league announced on Monday.
With 1,000,171 votes in the first return, Cunningham only trails the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (1,192,296), Philadelphia 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey (1,072,449) and Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks (1,040,601) in the conference.
There’s a drop off of nearly 150,000 votes between Cunningham at No. 4 and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell at No. 5.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry are the only players in the Western Conference with more votes than Cunningham.
The top five players in voting — comprising 50% fan vote and 25% from both current NBA players and a media panel — from each conference will be honored as starters for the 2026 All-Star Game, which takes place at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Under a new format this year, two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players will compete in a round-robin tournament, featuring four 12-minute games.
A native of Arlington, Texas, Cunningham would be part of one of the U.S. teams.
If he is chosen to the All-Star game, Cunningham would be the first Pistons player to be chosen to back-to-back All-Star teams since Chauncey Billups and Richard “Rip” Hamilton in 2007 and 2008.
Cunningham had a breakout season, averaging 26.1 points, 9.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game and took the Pistons to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 — when then All-Star Blake Griffin led Detroit to the eight-seed.
This season, he’s continued to elevate as one of the elite players in the league, posting 26.5 points, 9.6 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game. Cunningham was already named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for October/November and has the Pistons sitting atop the conference since Nov. 7, with a current record of 24-8.
No other Pistons player finished in the top-20 in the Eastern Conference for the first group of results.
Voting for the All-Star game concludes on Jan. 14 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Fans can vote through the NBA App or at NBA.com and select up to five players per conference daily. Votes count three times on Dec. 30, Jan. 7 and Jan. 14.