{"id":615368,"date":"2026-02-21T07:48:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615368\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:48:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:48:37","slug":"nba-legend-magic-johnson-reacts-to-pistons-cade-cunningham-after-knicks-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615368\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Legend Magic Johnson Reacts to Pistons’ Cade Cunningham After Knicks Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even though he hasn\u2019t laced up his sneakers<\/a> in decades, five-time NBA<\/a> champion Magic Johnson still keeps a close eye on everything happening around the league. Whether it\u2019s through interviews, podcasts or a quick post on social media, he\u2019s never shy about sharing his thoughts on the league\u2019s rising stars.<\/p>\n

And when a young player puts together a performance that demands attention, Magic usually takes notice. That\u2019s exactly what happened after the recent matchup between the Detroit Pistons<\/a> and the New York Knicks<\/a>, when one standout showing caught the Hall of Famer\u2019s eye and prompted him to weigh in publicly.<\/p>\n

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\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham brings the ball up the court against the Cleveland Cavaliers.Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Ken Blaze-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Johnson took to X to share his thoughts on Cunningham\u2019s performance. He posted, \u201cNBA fans all over the world, I hope you didn\u2019t miss the Detroit Pistons Superstar Cade Cunningham\u2019s performance against the New York Knicks last night. He put on a show scoring 42 points, 13 assists and 8 rebounds! Cade scored from everywhere on the court – three point, the midrange jumper and he was driving it to the basket. He may have had the play of the year when he dunked on three Knicks with his left hand!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cade Cunningham delivered one of his most complete performances of the season, pouring in 42 points while also handing out 13 assists to steer the Detroit Pistons past the New York Knicks, 126-111. Detroit didn\u2019t just win; they controlled the tempo once they settled in, turning an early deficit into a comfortable lead that held through the night.<\/p>\n

New York had its moments \u2014 Jalen Brunson<\/a> scored 30, and Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> added 21 points and 11 boards \u2014 but the Knicks struggled from deep and couldn\u2019t string together enough stops to truly swing momentum. Detroit steadily built separation, stretching the advantage into the high teens late in the game and never letting it dip into serious danger.<\/p>\n

What made it more impressive? The Pistons were without key contributors due to suspension, yet still looked sharp and confident behind Cunningham\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

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Related: Pistons’ Cade Cunningham Reacts to NBA’s Flopping Problem<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Feb 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even though he hasn\u2019t laced up his sneakers in decades, five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson still keeps a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,909,305,296,188,3860,288,563,2682,6,1136,191,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-615368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cade-cunningham","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-detroit","12":"tag-detroit-pistons","13":"tag-detroitpistons","14":"tag-jalen-brunson","15":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","16":"tag-magic-johnson","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-new-york-knicks","20":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116107523844614748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}