Cade Cunningham Returns to Oklahoma; Lindy Waters III Has Great Game Off Bench

While it wasn’t a complete sellout on Friday night, Oklahoma State fans arrived at the Paycom Center in droves to see former Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham lace it up against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Cunningham, who was drafted No. 1 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, played just eight minutes and scored two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

It was a strategic decision on Pistons coach Duane Casey’s part not to play all his starters very much.

“We’ve got a lot of nicks and bumps,” Casey said after the game. “Saddiq [Bey’s] hip is a little banged up, Cade’s back is a little banged up. And it gives us an opportunity to play a lot of the young guys. Probably if we were competing for a playoff position, they definitely could go out and play.”

Even though he only played eight minutes, he could feel the love from the Oklahoma State faithful in the crowd.

It was also a nice little reunion for Cunningham and some other Cowboys, including Lindy Waters III and Chris Harris.

Speaking of Waters III (pointer), don’t look now but he appears to be playing his way to staying in the NBA. He posted his fourth-straight game of hitting at least four 3-pointers, as he scored 16 points in 23 minutes off the bench.

Through the last four games, Waters III is averaging 45% from 3-point range. In doing so, he became the first Thunder rookie to hit four or more 3-pointers in four-consecutive games.