Cade Cunningham believes he is in the running to scoop the league's Most Valuable Player award after his stunning display for the Detroit Pistons against the New York Knicks. 

Cunningham registered 42 points and 13 assists to lead the Pistons to a 126-111 victory over New York for their third win in as many meetings this season.

Paul Reed scored 18 points while Tobias Harris and Ausar Thompson chipped in with 21 between them, helping the Eastern Conference leaders improve to 41-13 for the season. 

But it was the two-time All-Star who shone for Detroit, with his performance improving his average points tally for this season to 25.7, the 12th-best total in the league. 

He is also averaging 9.7 assists, a total only bettered by the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic (10.6), putting him in contention for the league's top individual award. 

Jokic, along with Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic and the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama are also in with a shot. 

And while Cunningham said in preseason that the accolade was not a goal of his, he insisted that he was among the favourites to win the award. 

"I think I am [MVP]," Cunningham told ESPN. "And if you don't agree with me, that's your opinion.

"It comes from doing the things I said, what I needed to do to be in that conversation. 

"Now that we're getting closer, there's more [talk] like 'What is your case? You should speak on it.' I don't really care to speak on it.

"I want the people that vote on it to be smart enough to look at the game for themselves."

Stepped out the All-Star break cooking pic.twitter.com/82uJirTyRr

— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) February 20, 2026

Since the media began voting for the award in 1980, the highest a player from the Pistons finished was Grant Hill in 1997, when he trailed Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.

Isiah Thomas finished fifth in 1984, but Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff doubled down on his point guard's emergence in becoming the league's MVP. 

"He's been that all year long. I don't think you pick an MVP based on just one game or one statement. He's been this way for the entire season," Bickerstaff said. 

"He's dominated both ends of the floor and impacted winning in a major way.

"This is just another night of him being the same and doing the same he's done night in and night out for us.

"Credit to him, credit to his work, credit to his conditioning, his will to want to win, his ability to be a great teammate and lead. That's who he has been all season."

The Pistons played without Jalen Duren, their leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, and Isaiah Stewart, who were suspended. 

Cunningham, however, did not downplay the importance of their victory ahead of taking on the Chicago Bulls as they look to win their fifth consecutive game. 

"To sweep a team as good as them, they play high-level basketball," Cunningham said. "To beat them, we're trying to win tiebreaker and stuff, that means something.

"Just competing against the Eastern teams, beating a good team, means a lot."