Cade Cunningham's snub keeps the spirit of NBA Most Improved Player award

Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels won the award with 332 total points and 44 of the 100 first-place votes. Cunningham finished in third with 122 points, just ahead of Christian Braun of the Denver Nuggets and behind second-place Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Cunningham's stats were better than all these players. He averaged 26.1 points, 9.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds. But he was a really good player last season as well, averaging 22.7 points and 7.5 assists. Cunningham did improve, but the bigger improvement came from his Pistons teammates.

Plus, Cunningham was the No. 1 pick in the 2021NBA Draft and played well during his rookie year. The top pick in the draft is supposed to be good in his fourth season. The only reason Cunningham's rise is at all surprising is that he missed nearly all of his sophomore season with an injury.

That tends to happen with the Most Improved Player award. Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant won the award after his second season, but he was the second pick in the draft, as were former winners Victor Oladipo and Brandon Ingram. It feels contrary to the spirit of the award to give the trophy to a player who simply met expectations.

But it's an inherent problem with an award that has vague guidelines. Most Improved Player replaced the NBA's Comeback Player of the Year award, which was discontinued after six seasons due to concerns with what the NBA was honoring. Three of the winners won after returning from drug or alcohol problems, while two others were coming back from contract holdouts.

The result is an award that confuses everyone. Even the name, the George Mikan Trophy, honors a man who won five of the first BAA and NBA titles after winning a title in college. Mikan was so good that he forced basketball to invent the goaltending rule and double the size of the lane. That's dominance, not improvement.

The NBA should bring back the Comeback Player of the Year award and just give out something like a rising star award instead. 

Or, just keep things nonsensical. The NBA thrives on debates, after all.