Cade Cunningham scored a career-high 52 points and handed out 11 assists as the Detroit Pistons outlasted the Washington Wizards 144-140 in double overtime at Capital One Arena on Thursday night, a game Washington twice kept alive with shots at the buzzer before Detroit finally pulled away.
Trae Young's three-pointer at the horn forced the first overtime, and rookie AJ Dybantsa then matched him, banking in a midrange shot with less than a second left to force a second extra period. But Cunningham answered immediately with a three-pointer to open the second overtime, and when Anthony Davis fouled out moments later, Detroit had the room it needed. Cunningham's baseline score with 25.3 seconds left made it 142-138, enough of a cushion to survive a frantic final possession.
A record nearly 50 years in the making
Cunningham finished 16 of 25 from the field and 17 of 18 at the free-throw line, and became the first player with at least 50 points, 10 assists and zero turnovers in a game since the NBA began tracking turnovers in the 1977-78 season, according to OptaSTATS. His previous career high was 46 points, set just over a year ago — also against Washington, in an overtime game that ended with a Daniss Jenkins buzzer-beater. This time Jenkins contributed 21 points before fouling out, and teammate Ausar Thompson recorded the first triple-double of his career, finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
The win keeps Detroit's hot start intact. The Pistons went into the weekend at 8-3 and third in the Eastern Conference, building on a core that has looked increasingly like a contender around Cunningham, a two-time All-Star who has taken on a heavier scoring and playmaking load this season after the franchise spent much of the previous decade near the bottom of the standings. Thursday's result was Detroit's second win over Washington in four meetings so far, after the Pistons also withstood a 44-point game from Davis in Monday's matchup between the two clubs.
A historic night, still a loss, for Washington
For the Wizards, the defeat came despite a performance that hadn't been matched in franchise history in more than half a century. Young, who joined Washington this offseason, finished with 37 points and 14 assists despite shooting just 8 of 23. Davis and rookie Alex Sarr each scored 30, giving Washington three 30-point scorers in the same game for the first time since Mike Davis, Earl Monroe and Gus Johnson did it for the Baltimore Bullets on Nov. 18, 1969. Sarr, a lottery pick in the 2025 draft, was especially efficient, making 10 of 10 shots in regulation before finishing 12 of 14, while Dybantsa's late heroics showed flashes of the talent that made him a top-ranked draft prospect. None of it was enough: Washington has now lost six straight and continues to search for a consistent rotation around its new backcourt pairing.
The result extends a difficult early stretch for a Wizards team still finding its identity, even as individual performances pile up around Young. For Detroit, it's the latest data point in an early-season surge built on Cunningham's expanding workload and a deepening supporting cast led by Thompson, Jenkins and Duncan Robinson, who added 13 points off the bench.
Both teams are already back in action less than 48 hours later. The Pistons play at the Miami Heat on Saturday night as part of a road trip testing their depth, while the Wizards host the Houston Rockets on Sunday looking to snap their skid before it grows any longer. A rival newsroom's own rundown of just how rare that stat line really was circulated widely among NBA fans the morning after.
